Darkness
by Yaoi Princess Serena
Summary: Harry is blinded by his Uncle. How will he survive, and what's a Rage? HPSS, RWDM, RLSB, and HGVK. Warnings listed in Chapter 1 and apparently I love making people OOC... meh, it's what ff is for! No like, no read :P
1. Into the Darkness

Disclaimers and the like: Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and of Warner Bros. And J.K. Rowling. However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used and any original material or characters) are of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my ideas that you may like, just drop me a line and ask, or at least credit me. If you want to archive my story, just ask about that too okay? Though it can be found on our site as well, and the link for that is in our profile. (Though this story won't be up there until after it's complete.)

Okay quick list of pairings that will happen or will be seen in the story at some point: Severus/Harry, Sirius/Remus, Viktor/Hermione, Ron/Draco.

Other notes: If the thought of rape scares the crap out of you and you can't read about it then you'll want to run away from this story eventually, also everything after GoF is being ignored as I started writing the original version of this well before OotP was even out yet. Also my grammar isn't the greatest but all you lovely sweet peas out there will just have to deal with it unless someone would like to become my beta. Also the characters will often be OOC but in my opinion this is fan fiction and that is what it is for, if you want something that the characters are 100% like they are in the books or movies well then I guess it's time to re-read or re-watch.

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Darkness - Chapter One - Into the Darkness

Harry Potter stood in the kitchen of #4 Privet Drive, looking at the floor for a moment in shock, with something akin to horror plastered on his face, while silently praying to whatever deity there was that his Uncle hadn't heard the noise that he was certain had echoed through the entire house. He was so absorbed by the sight before him as well as the mind numbing panic; he didn't even sense Vernon coming up behind him. The last thing Harry had heard though was the evil sound of his Uncle's laughter before everything went black.

When Harry finally came to he noticed that he was no longer in his Uncle's home and then heard the familiar noise of the Hogwarts Express and one that brought him some small degree of comfort. It meant he was going home to Hogwarts. It was during his musing that Harry couldn't help but notice that his vision was even fuzzier than it was normally. He found himself wondering for a moment if perhaps someone had taken his glasses off or that maybe they had fallen when he had been knocked out, until he reached up and found that his glasses were indeed still on and by the feel of things completely intact for once.

Turning his head with a sigh he finally noticed two fuzzy bodies in the compartment with him. One had almost shoulder length red hair and the other had blond hair that hung a bit past its shoulders. Harry could only guess that it was Ron and Draco, unless in a fit of madness Hermione had decided to go platinum and despite how awful he felt the mental image that brought up amused him a great deal.

"Is he waking up?" He heard Ron ask and he heaved a sigh.

"Yes he is awake and yes he can hear you." He mumbled out giving his friend a sideways look. "I'm guessing you came and picked me up?" Harry asked the two while pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. Ron and Draco looked at each other for a second before they looked back and nodded at Harry.

"Harry we found you on the front porch of your Aunt's place with all your stuff scattered around, what the hell went on there mate?" Ron asked sounding worried. Draco looked at his red-haired lover for a moment and gave a slight shake of his head trying to keep Ron from sounding so worried. The two of them obviously needed to be ready to hear anything if the way Harry looked was anything to go by and he knew that it wouldn't help matters any of Ron allowed himself to get worked up the way he usually did.

"Well give me a minute and I'll try my best to remember, it's all about as fuzzy as my vision at this point." Harry said while rubbing his temples briefly and giving another heavy sigh.

***flash-back***

"Boy! Get your little freak arse down here and make some breakfast before your little freaky friends pick you up!" Vernon yelled from the bottom of the stairs as he glared up.

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry replied dully, his voice flat and emotionless, before hurrying down the stairs and into the kitchen as quickly as he could manage to do as he had been ordered. Harry had been in the process of caging Hedwig when his Uncle had called him, and as he entered the kitchen he looked at the clock and a small smile passed over his face. Ron and Draco would be coming to pick him up in half an hour, as he was under orders from Dumbledore not to go anywhere without others being with him. He smiled to himself again while putting two frying pans on the stove as he actually enjoyed cooking in general it was being forced to do it that annoyed him to no end.

Harry started bacon in one pan before he set to work on the pancake batter and then got them going in the other pan and wondered what the class schedule would look like for the up coming term at school. Harry then turned the bacon and went about pouring juice, milk, and coffee for his muggle relatives, if relatives are what you would call the evil people one lives with, though he couldn't really say that as his Aunt Petunia wasn't really all that bad, it was the other two that were vicious. Despite not minding his aunt, Harry honestly couldn't see why he wasn't able to live with Sirius; it made no sense to him, after all Sirius was now a free man after the order had managed to catch Pettigrew the year before, and he had a husband and a nice home to boot. He could only imagine that it was either by the Ministries design or Dumbledore's that he was still stuck staying with the Dursleys. And honestly he didn't care whose fault it was that he was stuck there at this point he blamed everyone equally for it.

Shaking his head he made a slight face as he placed the bacon on a plate and carried it over to the table, but he didn't know why he bothered with a plate at all as Dudley would make it disappear in five minutes flat anyway, he'd timed him once. He then went back to the stove to finish with the pancakes. While he waited for one side to finish Harry went about getting out the plates for the table and he finished with that task just as quickly as all the others and went to get the pancakes from the frying pan, but he turned around just a little too quickly and the plate he had been holding fell from his hand and smashed on the floor.

The sound caused Harry to freeze mid-step and pray softly that Vernon had not heard the plate shatter, but something in his gut told him that the man had. He was so afraid that Vernon would do something besides beat him, and that was bad by itself, but Harry was use to that, among other things. Harry worried that Vernon might finally snap and go after him with a piece of the plate, maybe even kill him finally, like he always swore he would. Sometimes when Vernon was about to strike, Harry would wonder if that was going to be it, if it would finally be his end. Finally coming out of his slight daze Harry went to turn slightly until he heard a laugh and everything went black.

***end flash-back***

"Vernon must have cracked me in the head, that's the only explanation that seems to fit. Though with what I don't know." Harry said while shifting in his seat which caused him to wince slightly and rub his head trying to rid himself of the dull throbbing.

"That stupid filthy Muggle! Don't think that they won't be hearing about his, he'll get what's coming to him." Draco hissed suddenly. Despite the fact that Draco was dating Ron and had been for sometime, this shocked Harry slightly as he still sometimes couldn't believe that he and the blond were friends.

The shock disappeared quickly though when the car door suddenly opened and Hermione came bounding into the room. She sat down next to Harry and looked at him for a moment before leaning in closer and looking at him again. She couldn't be sure but something looked off with her friend and she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that was creeping up on her.

"Harry your eyes look a little cloudy, are you feeling all right?" She asked him. A sad sigh escaped from Harry and he held his head.

"Harry's bastard of an Uncle clocked him in the head!" Ron said suddenly not even giving Harry a chance to explain it himself which he was actually sort of glad for as he didn't really feel like retelling the tale again.

"That's horrid! Harry, you should go and see Madame Pomfrey as soon as we get to school, this could be bad." Hermione said sounding serious as always, but for once Harry honestly felt that what she was saying would be the best thing to do, not that he was about to admit that to her.

He also knew that it was useless to argue with the young witch, so he simply nodded, leaned back and waited for the train to stop. By the time the ride was over Harry's eyes were even worse than they been only an hour before and while he wasn't letting it show, he was doing his best not to panic about it. As the four teens entered the school for their final year instead of heading to the Great Hall with the rest of their class they headed to the Hospital Wing. As they entered Madame Pomfrey gave them a questioning look.

"Might I ask what you lot are doing here? A bit early for you to be getting yourself into trouble isn't it Potter?" She asked with a chuckle and a small shake of her head.

Hermione scowled at the medi-witch and helped Harry take a seat on one of the many beds in the large room, one that he was more familiar with than he wanted to be, but it was the price one paid when a Dark Lord wanted you dead he supposed.

"Madame Pomfrey this is serious, Harry is having trouble seeing!" Hermione said sternly. Ron and Draco simply nodded in agreement with what the young witch said.

Poppy sighed for a moment thinking that perhaps the group was over reacting but she moved to look Harry over. She lit the end of her wand and moved closer to Harry's eyes and frowned, now with a better look she could tell that this was beyond serious and far beyond her ability to cure. Being as close as she was Harry had little trouble catching the facial expression.

"Please tell me you can fix this." Harry said knowing somewhere in his mind what she was going to say to him before she even had a chance to say it.

"I'm sorry Mister Potter but there's very little I can do for you. If you'd been here as soon as your vision started to fade, then maybe, but not now I…" She said sadly before trailing off. "Do you even know what caused this?" She finally asked raising a brow in question.

Tears welled in Harry's dimming eyes and Hermione hugged her friend as close as she could from the angle she was standing at and Ron placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. At the sight of the young man's tears Poppy sighed and shook her head slightly, noting that he had ignored her question, she then turned to Draco who was looking on with an angered expression on his face.

"Mister Malfoy would you run along and fetch the Headmaster, I'm sure he'll want to know about this." At her request Draco nodded and headed out of the Infirmary and in the direction of the Great Hall.

As he entered Draco noticed that the other students were still arriving and that the new first years were yet to arrive. Without as much as a glance towards his own house table he headed right for the staff table and the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore looked over his half-moon spectacles at the younger man in front of him and raised a brow slowly.

"Something I can do for you Mister Malfoy?" He asked. At the question Draco nodded and leaned in so that the other students who were still up moving around would not overhear, it was honestly none of their business.

"It's Harry sir. He's with Madame Pomfrey, she said he's losing his sight." Draco whispered to the older man. Albus looked slightly shocked but his appearance recovered quickly to the usual jovial look, but his eyes lacked their usual twinkle.

Hogwarts resident snarky Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape just happened to "overhear" this and was rather shocked by what he heard from Draco. *_What's that spoiled little brat gotten himself into now?* _he thought while trying to figure out why Harry was going blind in his own mind. Albus nodded to Draco and turned to his Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.

"Minerva, would you please take care of things if I'm not back in time?" He asked her in a whisper while standing.

"Of course Albus, but what's going on?" She questioned. He shook his head slightly as if to say that he would explain later, before he turned his attention to Severus.

"Severus my boy, seeing as you heard what was said, why don't you join us?" Albus said. Severus was about to try and play stupid with Albus when he noticed that the older man looked rather serious for a change and a serious Albus was one that you did not wish to play stupid with.

The three men left and headed to the Hospital Wing and couldn't help but hear quite the commotion as they got closer to the room. In the short time that Draco had been gone Harry's vision had gotten worse which did nothing to help the teen's mood and seemed to finally be what set him off about the whole matter. He could barely see a thing, he could simply make out shapes, and only if they were close to him. Albus, Severus, and Draco ducked just in time as a bottle went flying out of the Infirmary and past their heads. They entered to see Harry in a panicked and angered state throwing things around and screaming.

"What the fuck did I do? What could I have done for this to happen to me?" He screamed while throwing another bottle across the room.

"Harry enough!" Albus said with a slight tone causing Harry to turn in the direction of the voice. "With your connection to Voldemort, we don't want to alert him that anything is amiss." Albus said hoping this would calm the boy slightly.

Instead of calming Harry it seemed to have a reverse effect and caused Harry to glare at what he was sure was the shape of Albus, if all the white was anything to go off of, and he made a scoffing noise.

"I'm sorry Headmaster, but I don't think I'll be much use in the fight against Voldemort now." He said lowering the glass he had been about to throw seeming for a moment as though he was going to calm down.

"Whatever do you mean my dear boy?" Albus asked softly. At this Harry let out a rather loud curse before smashing the glass on the floor in front of him.

"How the bloody hell am I suppose to fight Voldemort if I can't even see him?" Harry screamed at the group. As he did so various glasses and bottles around the room shattered and the group felt a strange wave of power coming from Harry.

"I'm sure you'll find a way." Albus said walking over and placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You always seem to find a way." He continued on gently.

At the contact Harry leaned forward and gripped Albus tightly in a hug before he began to sob. While comforting the young man, Albus looked over at Severus who was looking ready to run at the sight before him. The sight was not unfamiliar to him; in fact it looked very similar to the day that he had decided he was going to be a spy for Albus. Severus turned away from the sight and looked down the hall to see if any stray students were coming, this wasn't something they needed to see.

"Harry, please come with me to my office, Poppy, I'd like you to join us as well." Albus said leading Harry towards the door. "And you three please join your classmates in the Great Hall." The other three nodded slowly after casting lingering looks towards Harry before turning to leave.

Harry waited for Albus to start guiding him again and began walking when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Soon, but not soon enough, after several trips going up stairs, the hand gave a squeeze as a signal to stop.

"Chocolate Frogs." He heard Albus say and then saw a blur move away, which he assumed was the gargoyle that blocked the entrance.

Once Harry was seated the hands left him and Harry felt a slight absence, which confused him, he'd never felt that way around Dumbledore before so he couldn't understand why he did at that moment. Albus finally spoke again and what he said shocked Harry beyond words.

"Thank you for your help Severus." He said. Harry knew his eyes must have bulged a little because Severus made a slight scoffing noise of his own.

"You're welcome Albus, and stop looking so shocked Potter!" Severus replied from beside Harry. Harry turned in his direction with a puzzled expression on his face but said nothing, he honestly couldn't think of anything to say. Then Albus cleared his throat causing Harry to turn back again and wait for him to speak.

"Now Harry how exactly did this happen?" he asked gently. Harry turned his head away as through hoping to avoid the question in some strange way.

"Potter, answer the Headmaster's question." Severus said sharply. Harry nodded and rubbed at his eyes trying to keep the tears from coming again, annoyed at himself for tearing up at the thought of it.

"It happened at my muggle family's house, Vernon demanded that I make breakfast before I left and I dropped a plate…" Harry simply trailed off, he didn't think anymore needed to be said about it. They should be able to draw the proper conclusions from what he had given them.

"Oh my dear boy, he didn't." Albus asked hoping he was wrong, but already knowing the answer, it was in that moment that Albus hated himself. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen what had been happening, but he knew why he hadn't. He'd been so focused on the war and keeping Harry safe from Voldemort he didn't see that the people he really needed to be protected from were his own family members.

Severus himself cringed when he heard this; he remembered his father and what had happened when he made _'mistakes' _as his father so lovingly put it. _*Surely no one would put their hands on the Golden Boy.*_ he thought bitterly, but a sudden cough from Harry's direction pulled Severus from his thoughts.

"I don't remember exactly what happened, but I think we can all guess." Harry said flatly. Albus gave him a soft look and bowed his head slightly and then turned his attention to Poppy.

"Why is there nothing you can do for him?" Albus asked with a puzzled expression.

"If it had been something like natural sight loss or something that was just a simple blow to the head, then I would have been able to fix this right away, but something far worse is at work here." Poppy said sounding rather saddened by the whole thing.

"Would you just spit it out already woman!" Severus barked and for once Harry found himself in agreement with the man. Poppy wrinkled her nose at Severus for a moment before she continued.

"Caecus Eternus." She said sounding rather grave. At this Harry simple looked puzzled. He knew what Eternus meant but he was completely lost on the first word.

"It literally means Blind Eternal. It's one of the few dark curses out there that can be combined with a potion." Albus explained for Harry's sake as he could tell by looking at him that the young man was confused.

"Then it can be fixed right?" Harry asked with a hint of hope in his voice that almost made Severus cringe before he spoke up.

"Unfortunatly Potter; it is an old curse that no one's used for a few hundred years, so no one ever thought to find an antidote for it." Severus explained. At this Harry looked crestfallen once more for a moment but then confused again.

"Then how did my Uncle get hold of it even if it was mixed with a potion? He hates magic." He asked.

"I can only assume that he was approached by one of the Death Eaters, if not the Dark Lord himself. As much as he hates Muggles, he'll still use them if it means he'll get what he wants in the end." Severus supplied once again. At this Harry simply nodded and went back to looking rather put out.

"I'm truly sorry this has happened Harry, but we will do everything we can to try and fix it. Severus; please escort Harry to Gryffindor Tower." Harry stood and Severus grasped his arm a bit roughly and Harry let out a slight hiss.

This caused Severus to give the younger man a questioning look, but Harry said nothing and simply started to walk. The two walked in silence each lost in their own thoughts, Severus more so than Harry. Severus wondered exactly what was going through the Gryffindor's mind when suddenly he stopped walking. Severus then noticed that Harry started to shake slightly.

"Potter, what is it?" He asked slowly not wanting to startle the other.

"Professor, I can't see anything now." Harry said beginning to shake harder. "What am I going to do?" Harry whispered before the tears started to flow freely. Harry felt weak, how could he be crying in front of Professor Snape of all people? He would never live to hear the end of it he was sure, but in that moment it simply didn't matter to him anymore.

Severus didn't know what to do as the younger man started to lower himself to the floor, so he did the only thing he could think of. Slowly he lowered himself to Harry's level and pulled the now sobbing student into his arms. He was surprised when Harry made no move to pull away from him and was even more surprised when Harry started to clutch at the front of his robes.

"You'll be fine Po-Harry, as the Headmaster said, you always are. We'll find a cure for you." Severus said hoping it would calm Harry down a little so he could get the teen back to his common room.

Harry started to calm but Severus said nothing else for a good couple of minutes until finally he heard a rather unusual sound that sounded a lot like someone asleep. With a sigh he looked down at Harry and sure enough the young wizard had worn himself out to the point of exhaustion. Severus grumbled to himself and stood slowly picking Harry up in his arms and continued to Gryffindor Tower, noting to himself how ridiculously light the young man seemed to be. At the portrait of The Fat Lady, he grumbled under his breath because he had no idea what the Gryffindor password was.

"Password Pro…" She started to ask until she caught sight of Harry asleep in Severus' arms. She chuckled slightly and swung open for him.

"Thank you." Severus mumbled out to the portrait and walked in what he couldn't help but feel was enemy territory. "Seventh year dorms, where are they?" He barked at one of the fifth years.

The shocked Gryffindor simply pointed and Severus nodded his head and went to Harry's shared dorm room. Upon his entry the laughing that the group of seventh year boys was doing stopped completely. They looked at their Potions Master and then caught sight of Harry's sleeping form. They pointed quietly to his bed and said nothing; they even hurried out of the room to avoid angering the man, all except for Ron and Draco who had been visiting. They watched as Severus lay Harry down slowly as if waiting for him to hurt the sleeping wizard.

It wasn't until he lay Harry down that he realized that he couldn't move away, not because he didn't want to, but because Harry had a hold of his outer robe so tight that his knuckles were white. Severus considered waiting for Harry to let go, but being in the Gryffindor Tower this long already was starting to make him feel queasy. So he did the next logical thing, he shrugged out of the robe and wrapped it around Harry who in his sleep snuggled into it. As he started to leave, Ron stopped him.

"How is he Professor?" He asked clearly worried about his friend.

"He's completely blind now Mister Weasley, other than that he seems fine." Severus said coolly.

"Pardon me when I say this Professor, but sod off! Harry's never done anything wrong to you personally so why don't you give him a break already?" Draco snapped at the older man from his place beside Ron.

"I will not cater to him like the rest of the bloody Wizarding World!" Severus snapped at him. "Also, 50 points from Slytherin for your foul mouth, don't think I won't go higher just because you're one of my own students" He bit out.

"You honestly think he wants all the attention he gets?" Ron hissed at the man. Severus said nothing, but the look on his face said he thought so. "I thought that too once, and it nearly cost me my friendship with Harry. He's never wanted any of this, who would ask to be constantly in danger?" Ron asked softly looking over at his best friend who was asleep on the bed.

"What the devil are you on about Weasley?" Severus questioned, puzzled by the youth's words.

"Think about it Professor, he was only alive for a year when You-Know-Who tried to kill him, and then he was forced to go and live with those Muggles, you don't even want to imagine what they did to him, probably makes Death Eaters look like Princes." A look of shock passed over Severus' face for a split second before it was replaced by one of disbelief at this and Ron snapped at him again, the red head seething with long bottled up rage. "Oh you didn't know Professor? You probably thought he lived in the lap of luxury when he was home didn't you? And despite what's happened recently you're probably thinking it was a one time thing right?" Ron snapped out, sounding remarkably like his mother which was even causing Draco to step back from him a bit.

"Yes, I was under that impression. Care to prove me wrong?" Severus asked as if daring Ron, sure that the teen had something up his sleeve to back all this up with. He knew Weasleys weren't good at bluffing, well except for the twins, but they were something else all together.

"You want me to prove it? Fine then, I will." At this Ron walked over to Harry's trunk and dug around it for a moment. Finally he pulled something out and looked at it for a moment before seeming to change his mind especially after the warning look that Draco was giving him. Severus eyed what seemed to be a small book in the teen's hands before plucking it from his grasp.

"What in Merlin's name…?" he trailed off as he flipped the cover opened and realized he now held Harry Potter's journal in his hands.

"Forget I said anything, just give it back!" Ron said quickly, sounding almost desperate, finally realizing what he was just about to do. _What could possibly be so bad in here? _Severus found himself musing. Ron then opened his mouth to ask for it back again, but before he could say anything else Harry started to moan in his sleep causing both the red head and the blond to turn their attention from the older man and when they did Severus took this as his chance and quickly made a replica of the small book and slipped it into the pocket of his waistcoat.

After checking on Harry quickly Ron and Draco walked back over to where Severus still stood and Ron snatched the book from his hands. Severus quirked a brow at him for a moment but said nothing else as Ron slipped the journal back into Harry's trunk where he'd taken it from.

"Let's hear the rest of this little theory of yours." Severus said crossing his arms with an almost bored expression on his face. Ron paused for a moment before finally nodded and sighed slightly.

"On top of everything else, he's spent all his time here fighting You-Know-Who and now he's blind." Ron said throwing his hands up in the air finally thinking of washing his hands of trying to explain anything to the greasy git.

Severus' face betrayed nothing, not that Ron was expecting it too, but he couldn't help being angry with the older man. They all knew Severus was a bitter bastard of a man, but this attitude he still had even with what had just happened to Harry was amazing. He honestly didn't see why Draco thought he was such a great Professor and to be honest Draco was now questioning that same thought himself.

"Keep an open ear Weasley, if he should start acting up in his sleep, owl me immediately. And don't let me catch you breaking curfew Mister Malfoy." Ron and Draco both sighed again and nodded in response not even trying to say anything else as they watched the man sweep out of the dorm room.

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I think I like what I'm doing with it now more than what I was doing with it originally, which is annoying since I got all the way to Chapter 13 with the other. *shrugs* oh well! ^_^ Please R + R!


	2. Dealing with Darkness

Ser-Chan: Okay here we go with the new and improved chapter 2!

Harry: Hey that rhymed!

Ser-Chan: Where's Severus he's suppose to be doing the disclaimers for me. o

Severus: v.v I'm right here you silly woman! He grumbles while Yami Ser pokes him in the side.

Ser-Chan: Then why aren't you doing the disclaimers?

Severus: Shut up! Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are used and put together) are © of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! Also if you want to archive my story again JUST ASK!!

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Darkness – Chapter 2 – Dealing with Darkness

Severus made his way back to his own chambers in record time, which surprised him. He sat down in his chair and took the copy of Harry's journal out of his robe pocket; he looked at it for a moment and shook his head before getting up and placing it on his book shelf. _Weasley is probably just being dramatic, I'm sure the boy is treated perfectly fine at home, this was probably just an accident Though that doesn't explain the spell being used._ he thought trying to convince himself it was true. With that thought he headed into his bedroom chambers to get some sleep and prepare for the first day of classes.

As morning rolled around, Harry was one of the first in Gryffindor Tower to rouse. He rolled over and blinked a few times hoping against hope that everything from the day and night before had been a horrible nightmare and that he was perfectly fine. As he continued to blink with no results the tears stated to well up again. Once Ron woke he moved over to Harry's bed and laid a hand on his best friends back. At the touch Harry broke into a fresh wave of tears.

"I'm sorry mate, I wish there was something we could do to help." Ron said calmly.

"It's all right Ron; I just don't know what I'm going to do? How am I supposed to get around here and do everything I'm suppose to if I can't see?" Harry asked with a slight sniffle.

"Well you've got Hermione, Draco, and me to help you. I sure we'll figure something out, come on let's get ready." Ron said simply. Harry nodded and wiped at his eyes again before getting up and noticing that there was something wrapped around his arm.

"What the devil is this?" he said quickly tugging at the material.

"That would be Professor Snape's robe." Ron said as he watched Harry pale at his words and flop back down onto his bed.

"Professor Snape's robe?! What?!" Harry squeaked out in shock, though for some reason he pulled the material closer to himself.

"Yep, he left it here when he brought you in last night because you were holding onto it so tight." Ron explained to him. At this Harry nodded and stood slowly holding the robe out to Ron.

"Put it in my trunk will ya, I don't want the house elves taking it away." Harry asked softly of his friend.

Ron did as he was asked though he really wanted to know why he was doing it, but at the moment he didn't have the heart to question it. He then lead Harry to the showers, when they were finished, he helped Harry get his school uniform on the right way, just to make sure that Harry wasn't running around with his shirt on backwards. Harry was thankful for the help, but deep inside himself somewhere he hated it more then he could find the words to describe. He hated feeling so helpless and weak. But he said nothing of how he felt, instead he sucked it up and tried his best to put on a brave face, which he didn't have a hard time doing. It was almost becoming like a second nature.

After they were done getting ready Ron and Harry met up with Hermione in the common room and then headed down to breakfast where they picked a table and sat down. After their fifth year Albus had decided with everything going on outside of school, that it was better not to have house tables and that everyone could sit where they wished during meals. This was also partly because Draco had started sitting at the Gryffindor table so that he could spend more time with Ron. The three sat down and Hermione went about filling Harry's plate for him. The trio was half thru breakfast when Harry felt someone approaching the table; he concentrated for a moment and then continued eating until the figure was behind him.

"Good morning Professor, something you needed?" Harry asked as he pushed the food around on his plate a little bit.

"Potter, if you'll come with me?" Severus asked slowly confused as to how Harry knew he was behind him.

"Of course sir." Harry said standing up and reaching out for an arm or something to guide him.

Severus saw the motion and placed his arm within Harry's reach; the younger wizard soon felt the arm and latched onto it. As the two started to exit the Great Hall Harry sensed someone else entering. He again focused and realized it was Draco. The young Slytherin spotted Harry and his Head of House leaving and hurried over to them. Severus saw Draco coming and gave him a questioning look.

"Sir, might I have a word with Harry before you leave?" Draco asked looking up at Severus.

"Of course, I'll be waiting outside in the hallway." With that Severus released Harry and left the two alone.

"What is it Draco?" Harry asked giving Draco a questioning look, not sure what the other wanted.

"Where are you off to this morning?" Draco asked him quickly looking to make sure that no one was listening to them.

"I'm not sure, why?" Harry was confused by Draco's questions, and was letting it be known by his facial expressions.

"You need to be extra careful now Harry, you really do.' At this Harry now understood that Draco was worried about him.

"Draco, I'm not worried, I trust Professor Snape, but don't ask me why, because I have no idea. Besides Dumbledore trusts him and that should be enough." Harry said, not really believing what he had said about Dumbledore, but want to calm Draco.

"You would think so, but be careful anyway. I mean look at this way, Dumbledore trusted Quirrell too and look how that ended up." Draco advised.

"I will, now go. I think Hermione has something to talk to you about, and I think Ron saved you a bit of toast." Draco looked over to see Ron waving at him and pointing to the plate of toast. He then broke out into laughter.

Draco then took Harry by the arm and led him out into the hallway where Severus was waiting for him. As he watched Harry grab onto Severus's arm, he gave the older wizard a wink and then turned back to Harry. Severus confused by the actions of the younger man but said nothing and tried to figure out what was going on.

"All right then Harry; I'll see you in class." Draco said before giving Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and taking his leave. Harry nodded and waved slightly.

Severus and Harry continued on and Harry tried to figure out where the hell they were going, though he was still a bit tired and didn't think it wise to say or do anything that would give Severus reason to yell at him. So they continued until suddenly Harry's nose was assaulted by a damp smell, and he suddenly felt colder then he had only a minute before. It only took him a moment to realize that they were now in the dungeons. They walked on until the smell suddenly became bitter, causing Harry to wrinkle his nose at the change. He recognized the smell as the Potions room and wondered what they were doing there. When he could come up with nothing on his own he decided to take a chance and ask.

"Sir, what are we doing here?" Harry asked slowly. Severus released his hold on the boy and moved away from him slightly.

At first Severus smirked at the question but then it quickly faded as he remembered that Harry had absolutely no idea what was going to be done with him in regards to his classes.

"You're here so I can determine whether or not you'll be able to continue Potions without a permanent partner or not, at least until we can find you some sort of cure." Harry nodded at what the man said, but thought it painfully obvious that he would need a partner.

Harry listened closely as Severus moved about the room and placed several things down in front of him. Finally Severus took Harry's hand and laid it on the first ingredient.

"Try adding these in the exact order as they are on the table, I'll be back in a few minutes to check on your progress." Severus said before heading away from Harry and back to his desk.

Harry sighed and tried to figure out what it was that Severus had set his hand in but then decided that maybe it was better he didn't know, considering how slimy it felt. With another sigh Harry went ahead and put the item into the cauldron and continued to do so until his arm was suddenly grabbed roughly, by whom Harry imagined was none other than Severus. He knew he had to be right, but he was beyond caring considering that Severus had grabbed a particularly bruised part of Harry's arm.

"Potter did you add the ingredients in the order I told you to?" Severus hissed out at an alarmed Harry.

"I think so sir." Harry whispered out, finding it hard to think of anything but the pain in his right arm Severus's grip was causing.

"Think again Potter, you completely left out the beetle eyes." Severus spat, while placing Harry's hand where the beetle eyes were.

"I'm sorry sir, I just..." Harry started, but he could tell by the tone of the Potions Master's voice that he was angry and it might not even be with him but he was going to suffer for it.

"No buts Potter, you shouldn't have missed then, I don't know how many times I have to tell you doddering fools to watch what your doing but- " He bit out before being cut off by Harry.

"I would watch what I'm doing Professor, but incase you've forgotten why we're here this morning, I CAN'T SEE!!" Harry screamed at the man.

"Potter, I... I'm truly sorry for what I said, I shouldn't have." Severus choked out realizing his bad choice of words.

"Why? Are you sorry because you're actually sorry, or are you sorry because I'm blind?" Harry asked, and waited for an answer.

There was a continued silence and Harry was growing impatient; it was a simple question after all. A lot of thought need not apply to an answer.

"Well?" Harry snapped at the man after another few moments of the annoying silence.

"Both I would assume." Severus finally answered and rather reluctantly. Harry gave a nod and turned in the other direction.

"May I go now, because it's apparent to me that I won't be able to handle this class at all, sir. It's obvious I won't be able to handle anything at all." Harry said quickly doing his best not to cry.

"As I've said before Potter, you'll be fine you always are." Severus said making an attempt to make up for what he had just said.

"Well I've never been blind before now have I sir?" Harry asked sharply blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"No, no you haven't." Severus said with a sigh shaking his head slightly.

"May I please go now sir?" Harry asked his tone for once sounding rather defeated.

"Yes you may go, but one question, how did you know it was me at the table this morning?" He asked his earlier wonderings finally resurfacing.

"I just simply focused on your magical signature, I've always been able to do it, and it just never came in handy until now." Harry answered with a shrug before feeling around for his knapsack.

"Yet another interesting talent Potter, now get a move on I believe your class has Care of Magical Creatures right now." At his words Harry scowled. "Again, I offer my apology I keep forgetting your new circumstance." He said pointing his wand at Harry and muttering a quick spell.

Harry felt the magic and waited for a moment before he opened his mouth to question what Severus had just done.

"I charmed your shoes Potter; they'll lead to directly to your class, just follow your feet." Severus said with a smirk.

"Then I suppose I should thank you sir." Harry said tightly before turning and letting his feet lead him from the room.

Severus watched him go and sat back down at his desk trying to figure out how the young Gryffindor was going to make it through the rest of his schooling like this and hoped that the Ministry would get a move on with going to question the boy's Uncle.

After what seemed like an hour Harry was finally outside and approaching his classmates. As he got closer Ron and the other saw him and ran to meet him wondering how he was getting about by himself.

"How did you manage to make it all the way out here on your own mate?" Ron asked realizing that Harry's eyes were still glazed over.

"Snape charmed my shoes to lead me to class. I should have thought of that myself." Harry said with a heavy frown.

"Well we'll remember it from now on. Don't think on it." Hermione said patting her friend on the shoulder.

Harry continued to frown through the rest of class and when it finally ended Ron spoke up again.

"That git said something to you, am I right?" Ron asked Harry as Hermione was busy charming Harry's shoes.

"Yeah but it doesn't matter, everyone is bound to say something to me at some point in time right?" Harry asked with a slight scowl.

"I suppose so." Ron said glumly not liking how this was effecting Harry and wondering what had happened in the Potions room.

Hagrid soon started the lesson, having had to make sure that Buckbeak wasn't trying to chase Fang around again, and arriving only minutes before Harry. Harry was only half listening to the lesson, not being all that interested in the Demiguise, and trying to figure out which charm it was that Severus had put on his shoes. Soon enough Hagrid was dismissing the class and Harry turned in the direction of his friends.

"What do we have next?" he asked as Hermione held his arm and helped guide him back towards the castle.

There was what sounded to be a rustling of papers and Harry was sure he'd heard Draco mutter 'bollocks.' He stopped moving and waited for an answer to his question.

"We have Potions, Double Potions." Draco said gloomily. Harry sighed and hung his head slightly.

"Just do your best to ignore the greasy git Harry." Ron supplied. Harry chuckled at his friend's simple reasoning but didn't say much of anything the rest of the way back to the Dungeons.

Severus watched as the Gryffindors and the Slytherins filed into the room and frowned slightly when Harry came in hanging on Hermione's arm. Ron and Draco sat down in front of Hermione and Harry and the two glared at Severus for upsetting Harry. Severus ignored them and stood walking over to Hermione and Harry.

"Miss Granger you will be Mister Potter's permanent partner in this class, is that understood?" He asked.

"Yes sir." Hermione said with a nod before looking towards Harry who now had his quill in a death grip at the sound of the Professor's voice.

Harry wanted nothing more than to jump up and jam the pointy end of the quill into Severus's neck but for some reason as he listened to Severus's voice as he started talking about the lesson for the day something in him calmed down. He couldn't figure out why but something about Severus's voice made him feel almost peaceful. If he knew it wouldn't get points docked from Gryffindor, Harry would have gone to sleep to the voice but instead he just sat there and let the sound of it wash over and calm him.

While Harry was doing so Ron, Draco, and Hermione were watching their friend visibly relax. The other three let out a sigh and turned their attention back to their Potions books. While everyone was reading Harry simply sat there and sighed. The sigh caused Severus to look up from the paper he was correcting. Once again he'd forgotten about Harry's new condition, so he stood and headed to Harry's desk and placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Potter; come with me." He said. Harry nodded and stood taking the arm that Severus offered and was led back into Severus's office.

Severus sat his student in a seat near the desk and brought in one of the Potion's books. Harry heard the man mutter a spell and then heard him set the book down. Harry had a quizzical look on his face and wondered if Severus was actually going to read to him but when he heard a sigh from Severus he knew that wasn't about to happen anytime soon.

"I've charmed the book to read itself to you. It should be done in about an hour; I'll be back in then. If you need to hear a line more than once just tell it to re-read and it will read back over the previous sentence." Severus said before sweeping out of his office and slamming the door behind him.

Harry let out an annoyed sigh and scowled at where he thought the door was wishing Severus could see the annoyed expression on his face. He figured it would be some annoying fake voice until the book started to speak and none other but Severus's voice emerged from its pages. Harry sighed again but this time it sounded much less annoyed. Hearing Severus's voice made being separated from his friends a little more bearable. He snuggled down into the chair and listened carefully doing his best not to miss anything.

Sure enough about an hour later the talking book stopped and soon after Harry heard the door to the room click open and he felt Severus step in. Harry turned towards where he thought the door was once more.

"Your timing is amazing the book just finished reading itself." Harry said thoughtfully before crossing his arms and waiting to be lead from the room.

When he was not offered an arm his expression took on a quizzical look. He heard Severus move from the doorway toward the desk where the man seated himself.

"Potter, I wanted to apologize properly for what I said earlier today." At his words Harry scowled.

"Look Professor what's said is said, you can't take it back anymore than I can wish away what has happened to me, so just let it go." Harry said quickly.

Severus frowned at this. Harry seemed to be changing in more ways than one. For some reason it worried Severus but he wasn't quite sure why it did. He looked at Harry for a minute and wondered what it was exactly that was going on in the younger man's head. He thought of many different things but none of them seemed to fit. With a sigh he stood and finally offered his arm to Harry who took it and was lead out of the room.

Once back in the main part of the Potions lab Harry took his seat next to Hermione and ignored her as she whispered to him asking him what had been said in the office. The rest of the class period passed quickly as did the rest of the night, for the most part.

* * *

Ser-Chan: Well there's chapter 2.… wasn't bad.

Severus: It was better than the original chapter two I think.

Harry: Who cares everyone R + R please.


	3. Asking for Help

Severus: Shut up! (He yells while pointing his wand at Yami Ser before turning his attention back to his disclaimer paper) Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: (Rolls her eyes and laughs at the sight before her.) However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used and any original material or characters) are  of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! If you want to archive my story, just ask about that too okay? Though it can be found on our site as well, well eventually when I stop being lazy! lol!

Harry: (Blinks confused and shrugs his shoulders slightly not really all that sure about what had been going on.) I guess start reading.

* * *

Darkness – Chapter 3 – Asking for Help

It was about 9:30 when Ron looked up from his books and noticed that Harry still wasn't back from the showers yet and he found himself thinking on his friend's behavior from earlier in the day. With a sigh he pulled out a blank piece of parchment and jotted down a quick note before tying it to Pig's leg. The still slightly small owl took off out the window and down towards the dungeons.

Severus looked up in shock as a small owl made its way into his room, with a shake of his head he quickly recognized the owl as Ron's and took the letter that it offered. He opened it slowly and started to read what had been written down.

'Professor, I know you only told me to owl you if Harry started acting weird in his sleep, but you seem to be the only one he'll really respond to. He's been in the showers for two hours now, I can't imagine what he's doing but before he left, he told me not to bother him. Please check up on him Professor. - Thanks again, Ron Weasley.'

With a sigh Severus rolled the parchment back up before heading out of the room.

He approached the Gryffindor showers and opened the door slowly before heading in. As he entered he heard one of the showers running and headed in that direction. As he got closer he could clearly make out the sounds of someone crying. Severus glanced behind the curtain for just a moment to make sure it was Harry; he took a calming breath, grabbed a towel, and pulled the curtain back completely

"Come on Potter." He said calmly leaning down and wrapping the towel around the crying young man.

Seeing that Harry wasn't going to be moving by himself anytime soon Severus picked him up and walked over to the tiny bench that was in the room before he started to carefully dry Harry off. As he did he noticed that Harry was covered in an unusual amount of scars. He ran a finger across one and looked at Harry with a quizzical expression not that the younger man could see it.

"P- Harry, where did these come from?" He asked suddenly. At his question Harry's body tensed up and he tried to pull away from his Professor.

"Let's just call it one of the many things I've had to deal with all right Professor?" Harry asked with a sniffle turning his head away from Severus.

"No one so young should have this many scars Potter." Severus said simply before he helped Harry to get into his pajamas.

"You're right sir, no one should. Then again, I'm not just anyone, I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, and I deserve treatment like this, right?" Harry said his voice sounding flat and cold.

"Why would you say something like that?" Severus asked confused, but his voice carrying a bit of a hiss to it, at Harry's statement. Instead of answering Harry simply shrugged.

"You wouldn't understand sir." He said calmly. "Thank you for the help, but could I trouble you to lead me back to the main part of the tower?" Harry asked slowly, his voice quickly loosing any trace of emotion.

Severus didn't answer aloud as he was too busy trying to make sense of Harry's words, instead he simply took hold of Harry's arm and led him back to where the rest of the students were. Once they were spotted, Ron and Seamus approached them slowly. Seamus took hold of Harry's arm and led the quiet teen off towards their room. Once they were out of hearing range Ron turned to Severus and gave him a serious expression.

"Do you see what I mean sir?" he asked crossing his arms and giving the taller man a look. At this Severus simply nodded his head which surprised Ron just a bit.

"Yes Mister Weasley, I believe I do; now if you'll excuse me, I think I have some reading to go do." Severus said quickly before exiting out of the common room.

Ron nodded to himself as he watched the man go, wondering if maybe he should have given him the journal like he had planned on.

Severus headed into his room and locked the door behind himself quickly before walking over and pouring himself a drink. He then sat down with a sigh and summoned his copy of Harry's journal to himself. He opened the book slowly and wondered if Harry had warded his journal at all and shuddered at the thought. Severus then stared at the first page for at least an hour before he even turned to the next. He was beginning to wonder if it was an enchanted journal, like the kind Voldemort had left behind and Ginny had been given by Lucius in her first year, then again Harry couldn't possibly know the spell for that. _Wouldn't surprise me though_ he thought to himself.

_**My name is Harold James Potter, I'm fifteen, and I want to die. **_Almost as soon as he read the opening line, Severus could sense a feeling regret and sadness radiating from the page. He was half tempted to close the book and push it away but for his own piece of mind he couldn't.

_**I guess I should start at the beginning, I'm an orphan, my parents were killed by a dark wizard named Voldemort, said to be the darkest wizard ever seen, at least of our time anyway. When I think about him, which is often, I realize how stupid most of the wizarding world actually is. They're scared of a name, A NAME! Can you believe that? And most of them practically worship the ground I walk on, and I don't want them too, I NEVER wanted them too, I didn't ask for any of this, in fact I wish it would all just go away. They praise me for stopping Voldemort, when it wasn't even me, it was my mother who did, my mother's love stopped him, but it couldn't stop him forever I guess. It didn't stop him from killing Cedric.**_

_**I don't want fame; I never did, despite what Professor Snape thinks. I have a teacher here at Hogwarts, named Severus Snape, he's my Potions Professor, and up until about well I'm not exactly sure when, I thought I hated him, but I guess he's not that bad when you get down to it, but enough about him.**_

Severus looked at the entry and sighed, _Weasley wasn't joking when he said Potter didn't want fame, now I see that. Not so bad eh? After what I've said and done in my life, I'm almost as bad as you can get Potter._ he thought to himself. He refilled his glass and looked back down at the journal. He wasn't exactly sure he wanted to keep reading it, but something urged him to press on.

_**Snape seems to think I live in the lap of luxury, Draco seemed to as well, up until his mother was killed recently.**_

_Recently? _Severus thought to himself, _That's right the age at the beginning said fifteen, so this was only his fifth year here._ he nodded to himself when he remember very quickly the day that Narcissa had received the Dementors Kiss and Lucius became a spy for the Order joining Severus and Draco. He sipped his brandy a little slower before returning to the journal.

_**I don't live in a lap of luxury, far from it actually. For the first eleven years of my life I lived in a cupboard under the stairs which I guess explains why I'm so short compared to everyone else in my year, then from that I moved to an old bedroom, but still not much larger than the cupboard, sometimes I still wish for the cupboard, in there they couldn't reach me. **_

Severus shook his head, and wasn't sure he had just read right. _Reach him? By Merlin, he can't mean what I think he means_. Unfortunately for Severus, he was soon going to find out, and that meant that he was going to find out just how black Harry's world was even before he went blind.

_**I guess everything got worse when Cedric died. That's when the nightmares started, well not started; got worse would be a bit more like it. I mean I was beaten by my uncle way before that, I think it started when I was about six, but it wasn't more than a couple of bruises. That was only when I messed up though, or at least messed up according to their standards, which only meant my being alive. But then I started waking up in the middle of the night doing the worst possible thing I could do, screaming.**_

_**At first it wasn't so bad; my uncle would simply cover my face with a pillow, and punch me until I was quiet, or passed out. It normally only lasted a few minutes, and the bruising wasn't too bad, so it was easy to hide when I got back to school finally. I end my fifth year in about four days, and I think it's more than safe to say that this summer will make last summer look like a walk in the park.**_

Severus frowned at the entry before closing the book and taking it back over to his book shelf. He didn't know what to think about any of this anymore. He wished more than anything he could go back to his denial of Harry's living conditions, but after reading just that small bit of the journal he knew he'd never be able.

The days passed slowly for Severus and the others as Harry slipped more and more into a state of depression, no one could think of anything that might help the young man and Severus had found Harry crying in the shower on more than that one occasion. Still stubborn as ever Harry would no longer allow his friends to help him around the castle, and slowly struggled on his own, though he was often late for classes because of it. Many of the other Professors had tried other ways of helping Harry out in his classes. He was getting much better had focusing his magic on an object long enough to cast a spell on it, or at it, which was a nifty bit of information that Minerva had passed on to him, as her father had been a blind wizard.

Meanwhile Harry knew Severus was watching him, he could feel that man staring and thinking about things that only that man could possibly know. But every night, he wished he could stare back once again, and go back to trying to read the man's eyes even though they told him nothing. He was beginning to think it was impossible, so he knew he had to learn to deal with his blindness. As much as he was loath to admit it Harry knew he would never be able to make it without asking someone for help, but the one person he was willing to ask would probably turn him away.

Harry sighed as he stood outside of Severus's room. He wasn't sure how he had managed to make it there, but he thanked whatever God or Goddess that might have been listening as he slowly raised his hand to knock. He waited but a moment before the door flew open and he knew that Severus was glaring down at him, but he didn't really care, he was use to the look by now.

"Mr. Potter, care to explain why you are gracing me with your presence this evening?" Severus asked slowly trying to be a civil as possible to the younger man.

"Sir, may I talk to you? There is something I want to ask." Harry said calmly figuring the worst that Severus could do was say no.

"Of course, come." Severus said offering his arm to the Gryffindor to take it quickly and allowed himself to be led inside the room.

Once inside Severus closed the door and locked it as he always did before leading Harry to the couch so the younger man could have a seat. Once he was comfortable himself he cleared his throat so Harry would know to continue.

"Sir, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me." Harry said simply. At this Severus quirked an eyebrow in question.

"I may be willing Potter if I knew what it was you wanted my help with." Severus said trying not to sound annoyed at being disturbed and asked seemingly pointless questions.

"Sorry sir. I meant help me learn how to deal with my condition." He said quickly. At this Severus was dumbstruck.

"Why? You have plenty of friends who are willing to help you, hell you have plenty of Professors who are willing to help you. Why not ask one of them? Besides I thought you were making good progress with your Head of House." Severus said quickly.

"I don't want to be babied anymore!" Harry snapped out. "I'm sick of people who just want to hold my hand and treat me like I'm made of glass! I'm not going to break!" As his voice became louder Severus noticed that the glasses in his room started to rattle and then he caught a bit of the power that Harry was now radiating and his eyes widened slightly. Then it suddenly stopped. "Not even my Uncle could see to that." he finished softly.

"All right Potter, I'll do my best to help you, but I want you to give this your all and not slack off like you did with your Occlumency! It won't be easy I assure you." Severus said sharply.

"Thank you Professor. That was all I wanted to ask you." Harry said in a rather small sounding voice before standing so that he could be lead back to the door.

Severus stood as well and offered his arm which Harry slowly took and he guided him back over to the door. As he opened the door, the younger man stepped out and he turned back around. Severus then realized what it was the teen wanted. Pointing his wand at Harry's shoes he muttered the spell that would guide Harry back to the Gryffindor Tower but as Harry started to make his way from him slowly he called out to him.

"Be at my rooms tomorrow night at seven. The password is Wormwood so you don't have to knock." Severus said simply before heading back into his room and slamming the door shut behind him.

Harry sighed to himself as he walked away totally unsure of what it was he wanted from the man exactly. Before when he had been near him he wanted nothing more than to hex the man ten ways from Sunday, but now when he was near he felt calm and almost peaceful, except when Severus was directing his snarky comments directly at him, then the hexing sensation was back ten fold. The walk went by quickly as Harry soon found himself being asked for his password. He mumbled it quickly and slowly made his way in only to be greeted by a worried Hermione.

"Harold James Potter, where the bloody hell have you been?!" she exclaimed quickly as soon as he was well inside the common room.

"Don't worry about it." He snapped out at her. This was getting annoying, all the constant worrying about him.

"Don't give me that Harry. You didn't even leave a note!" she said quickly. At this Harry's expression changed, all right so maybe this time was his fault.

Slowly he felt his way over to the couch and flopped down on it with a sigh while placing his head in his hands.

"Sorry 'Mione, I went to see Snape." he knew she must have had a shocked expression because she didn't say anything right away so he went on to explain exactly why he had gone down.

Back down in the dungeons Severus seated himself back in his chair and wondered briefly about the power Harry had been giving off until his attention was caught by the journal again. With a small sigh he picked it back up and settled back down into his chair and wondered for a moment if he should keep reading or not until the journal flipped itself open obviously making his mind up for him. So with a deep breath he started to read again.

_**We leave school tomorrow, so Ron, Draco, and Hermione, all decided to spring their secrets on me. Much to my shock, but not dismay, it turns out Ron and Hermione will never be together, apparently Ron and Hermione both have boyfriends. Yes I wrote that right. Turns out Hermione had been secretly dating Victor Krum since last year, and Ron, well Ron is dating Draco. **_

_**I almost fell over when I learned about it, I wonder how they will react when I tell them I'm gay as well. No, I'm not going to tell them that now, I think I'll wait until at least next year, maybe the start of the term, maybe later than that, I still haven't decided for sure. Who knows maybe I'll never tell them at all, but that doesn't seem likely, I just need to find the right time I guess, though that would have been a good time, but it didn't feel right to me then. **_

"Potter, gay?" he said out loud, so the idea didn't sound as totally ridiculous as it had in his head. He simply couldn't believe it, well maybe he could. It would explain why he had never seen the younger man with another girl after the disaster with Cho Chang. Oh yes Severus had heard about that in fact he was sure that everyone in the castle had. Surprisingly it seemed that more people had felt bad for Harry about it than they had for Cho, many saying she had just been trying to use him as a replacement for Cedric, or even just trying to get revenge and blaming Harry for what had happened to the other.

Severus then noticed that the handwriting on the page changed drastically and he wondered that if maybe someone else had been writing, but he squinted slightly and realized that the writing did indeed belong to the same person.

_**Well now it's official, I'm back in hell, and my uncle is Satan. I swear to Merlin the man is worse that Voldemort could ever be! I only just arrived home, and I've been beaten twice, for nothing at all, oh no wait, I guess breathing is something. Remus and Sirius are more than willing for me to come and stay with them, but no. That fool Dumbledore thinks I'm safer here from Voldemort than I am with them. I should have just told him off like I had wanted too, I mean even staying with Snape would be safer than here! Sirius is my godfather, I should be able to stay with him, after all he is in charge of me right? Sure I may be safer here from Voldemort because of the protection spells around this place, but what's protecting me from my uncle? **_

_**Nothing that's what absolutely nothing! Shit I better calm down, I'm starting to make things rattle, next thing you know my uncle will be in here kicking my arse for making noise while they eat dinner. **_

_While they eat dinner? Don't they feed him? Well it would explain why he spent the first two weeks of last year in the infirmary, and why Poppy wouldn't let anyone in to see him, not even Albus, I wonder if that was at Potter's request though? _he thought, knowing he was probably right about that. With a sigh he closed the journal slowly and carried it back over to his book shelf. He simply couldn't believe everything he had read so far, but it all made total sense to him now.

The more it made sense to him though the madder he became not with Harry, nor even his Muggle relatives, but with himself for not seeing it, for not catching the signs that he should have known oh so well from when he was growing up. Had he truly been that blinded by his hatred for James Potter that he couldn't see that this man, no he was a child then, that this child had needed help, had needed to be saved? He hung his head for a moment as he quickly realized that the answer was yes.

As he laid down to sleep Severus quickly vowed to himself that he would do his best to help Harry and let the ghosts of his own past die away.

* * *

Ser-Chan: There not so bad. (Shrugs slightly) what do you think guys? (She turns to look the bound and gagged forms of Harry, Severus, and Yami Ser.) Well I think they like it, so R R! 


	4. Someone Else's Nightmare

Yami Ser: (Walks up and looks around) Snape! Snape where the hell are you?!

Severus: (Walks up glaring at the woman) what?! What could you possibly want this early in the morning?!

Yami Ser: (Points at the readers) Disclaimer… now! She hisses out

Severus: (Glares at her for another moment) Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: (Pops up out of nowhere) However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used) are © of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! Also if you want to archive my story again JUST ASK!!

Harry: (Blinks again and scratches his head) How the bloody hell does she do that?

* * *

Darkness – Chapter 4 - Someone Else's Nightmare

As he woke the next morning Harry blinked his eyes once, and then twice to be sure he was actually seeing what he was seeing, and he was seeing dark blurs, but at least he was seeing something. He said nothing though as he sat up. He didn't want to get anyone's hopes up nor did he want to get his own up and he was right to do so because when he blinked again everything went totally dark once more. Letting out a rather frustrated sigh he slowly made his way out of bed and over to Ron's bed. Reaching out he started to shake the red head gently until he realized that there were more limbs in the bed than usual.

"Good morning, Ron, Draco." He said with a cheeky grin.

"Good Morning Harry." They both responded while yawning slightly.

Draco then surprised Harry by grabbing hold of the slightly younger man and pulling him into the bed in between himself and Ron. The two then wrapped their arms around Harry and simply held him, well until Ron started to tickle him that is. Harry let out a loud laugh at this until it became an all out tickle fight between the three of them. Once it died down though the three just lay there until Harry spoke up.

"Thanks guys, I really needed that." He said simply. At this Draco leaned up and kissed his temple.

"Anytime mate, you know we're always here for you." He said in reply.

"Hey isn't that my line?" Ron asked then causing both Harry and Draco to start laughing yet again.

By the time the three finally made it out of bed it was well into lunch, and they counted themselves lucky that it was Saturday otherwise they would have missed Potions and that would have ended badly for all involved.

As the three made their way into the Great Hall, Hermione looked at them with a smirk but said nothing as they took their usual seats at the table before their food arrived.

"Harry an owl arrived for you this morning Hedwig left it with me when I said you were still in bed. Looks like it might be from Sirius. Do you want me to read it to you, or do you just want to hold on to it for now?" She asked softly looking up from her book.

"I'll just take it for now. Thanks 'Mione." he said flashing a small smile. "Wish I could read it myself." he muttered out. At this the other three at the table looked at each other and frowned slightly.

They hated to see their best friend like this and wished there was more that they could do for him it was then that Ron caught sight of the book that Hermione with reading. He nudged Draco and pointed but before either of them could say anything she held a finger up to her lips giving them a pleading look. At this they both nodded quickly and turned back to their own meals. Hermione then closed the book and sat it aside before turning back to her own meal. As she did she glanced thoughtfully at the cover. _Magic and Blindness in the Wizarding World._ She let out a tiny sigh before digging back into her eggs.

As the time to go to Hogsmead approached Harry declined to go with his friends and instead headed towards the dungeons. He wondered if it was simply a desire to see Severus or it was simply where he had ended up, but in the end he wasn't sure and continued his way down. As he continued to walk though he realized by the smell he was in a part of the dungeons that he had never been before. The air was damp true, but it didn't have the bitter smell that the Potions sections did.

Harry put his hands out in front of him, and felt along the wall, and soon realized he was standing in front of a door. He felt around for the knob, and pushed it open. He made his way around the room slowly, and eventually his hands came to rest on what Harry could only assume was a piano. He moved around slowly trying to find a seat, and finally found one, but it was pretty much ruined, he let out an annoyed sigh at this but then decided to try something.

He slowly pulled out his wand, and touched it to the former seat, and muttered a charm to reassemble it. After he finished he reached out and much to his great delight he realized it had worked. He then stood again and felt his way back to the piano and did the same thing. Having done that, he sat down slowly and laid his hands on the keys.

Back in the Potions room a small alarm went off in Severus's mind. He quickly realized that it was the alarm he had set to let him known if a student was using magic in the dungeons outside the classroom and the common room. With an annoyed sigh he quickly pulled out his own version of the Marauder's Map and was shocked when he saw who else was down there.

"What the devil is he up to now?!" Severus muttered to himself as he made his way out of the classroom and in the direction of Harry.

Back in the room Harry quickly ran through some scales and he was suddenly thankful of all the times he had played the Dursley's piano in the dark. He easily went though another set of scales, and then began to play. He had no idea what he was playing, all he knew what that it was helping him, simply deal with everything that was going on at that moment. Outside the room Severus got closer and was surprised to hear the sound of the piano. No one had played that piano since Lily, so why was he so surprised that Harry had found it. He entered the room slowly and was surprised when Harry simply continued to play.

After about another hour or so, Harry's playing came to a stop, and he sat up straighter and turned his head from side to side, before finally turning his head in Severus's direction.

"Well what did you think Professor?" Harry asked, Severus paused for a moment, but chose his words quickly.

"It was rather good Potter, I can't say I'm surprised to find you here though. This was one of your mother's favorite rooms as well.' Severus said simply at this Harry took on a confused expression.

"Mum came here too?" He asked softly his voice cracking slightly. At this Severus nodded his head.

"Yes she did, in fact Albus and Minerva had this room made especially for her after she became Head Girl." He explained.

"Then why did they let it simply rot away? Why didn't anyone take care of it?" Harry snapped out. "What a lovely way for them to honor my mother!" he all but finished in a hiss.

"Ah but that's the kicker Potter, this room was warded by your Mother so that no one but those she thought truly needed a release could enter." Severus said holding up his hand.

"Surely Dumbledore could over come the spell of a seventh year." Harry said with a roll of his unseeing eyes.

"That's true, but he respected your mother's wishes and let the ward intact. Now that is a way of honoring your mother." Severus said. At this Harry slowly nodded.

"I guess your right. Sorry Professor." Harry said simply before turning back towards the piano keys and slowly going into another song.

Severus quickly transfigured himself a seat and sat back listening to the song that Harry was playing. It was obvious that the song was something Harry had come up with himself and it was moving to say the least. It started off soft and light before going into something dark and foreboding and as he listened he realized the song fit Harry's life very well, but he pushed the thoughts aside as he closed his eyes slowly and simply listened.

Harry wasn't sure what it was about having Severus there with him that made the room seem all the more better, but things seemed a little more bearable when the other man was around. It then dawned on Harry that it use to be the total opposite, he use to not be able to stand the man at all. He didn't know if maybe he was just growing up, or maybe that Severus's snarky attitude was finally growing on him, though he wasn't going to dwell on it.

As the music finally started to die down Severus opened his eyes again to see Harry simply sitting there at the piano toying with his fingers slightly as though he didn't know what to do or say exactly so standing Severus cleared his throat lightly as he approached the younger man.

"That was excellent," he said simply before holding his arm out for Harry. "Come Potter, I believe we've already missed lunch and Albus would have my head if I let you go hungry." He said sounding rather dry.

"Thank you Professor." Harry replied simply before taking the offered arm and allowing himself to be lead out of the room that he had quickly grown fond of.

Slowly but surely the two made their way back to the main part of the dungeons, but instead of heading towards the Potions room Harry noticed that they took a different turn and Harry couldn't help but wonder where it was they were going exactly, until he realized they were heading to Severus' rooms again.

"Ariana." Severus muttered out and after he did he looked down at Harry quickly.

"Ariana, Sir? I thought the password was Wormwood?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Seems one of my Slytherin's were would and about last night and over heard that, hence the change and if you tell anyone I'll hex you into next week understand?" Severus asked.

"Perfectly Sir." Harry replied meekly knowing simply by the tone that Severus was deadly serious. Harry knew for a fact that Severus was a very private man.

Harry then found himself wondering how many of the Slytherin students had even made it into these rooms, the thought hadn't occurred to him the night before but now that he wasn't nervous he found himself thinking more. He was sure Draco had probably been in them at least a handful of times, but how many others? Harry's number wasn't very high, in fact he was leaning towards few if any; then again there was always the chance that he was wrong. Severus was very different when it came to his Slytherins and sometimes Harry couldn't figure out if it was because the man was a spy or because the Slytherin house was so misunderstood now because of Voldemort.

After Severus lead Harry to the couch to take a seat he quickly pulled a rope in the room and with a crack one of the house elves appeared, unfortunately for Severus it happened to be one of Harry's biggest fans.

"Master Harry! Dobby was worried that you was not eating!" The house elf squeaked out before running over to Harry quickly. At this Harry simply chuckled slightly.

"Actually I'm fine Dobby, I just lost track of the time, but do you think Professor Snape and I could get a bit to eat?" Harry asked with a hint of amusement in his voice that Severus had yet to hear that year.

"Anything for you sir!" Dobby said before disappearing with another crack. Harry chuckled to himself slightly as Dobby disappeared again and Severus was surprised.

"I believe that's the first sound akin to amusement that I've heard from you so far this year." He said calmly as he took a seat across from Harry.

"To be honest sir, I think it was one of the first." Harry said trying to stay as honest as possible with the Professor. "Professor Can I ask you something?" Harry asked softly. At this Severus looked up from the fire that had caught his attention.

"And what might that be?" Harry was quiet for a long moment and it seemed to Severus that he was gathering his courage, but before he could say anything Dobby reappeared with another crack and went about setting the tray of sandwiches and pumpkin juice in between the two.

"Here you are Master Harry, please be callin' Dobby if you needs anythin' else." The small elf said before Harry smiled at him.

"Thanks Dobby." At his words Dobby disappeared again with yet another crack leaving Severus and Harry to eat their meal. As the two started to eat the sandwiches slowly finally Severus broke the settling silence.

"What was it you wanted to ask me Potter?" he questioned.

"I was just wondering…" he started while beginning toy with his fingers. "Ariana, who is she?" Harry asked softly wondering if the question was going to get his screamed at.

"She _was_ my mother. My father drove her to suicide right before my eleventh birthday, right before I received my letter." Severus answered slowly, surprised that he was answering at all. _Call it fair trade for the fact that you have his journal. _he thought to him.

"I'm sorry to hear that sir, I really am." Harry said before turning his attention back to his sandwich.

"No Potter, if anyone should be sorry it's me, I at least got the chance to know my mother." Severus said with an almost gentle look towards Harry who had seemed to freeze up. Finally the teen shook it off and nodded.

"Thank you Professor." Harry said simply as a tear he hadn't been aware of slid slowly down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly and finished off his meal.

The two sat in silence for a long while, each lost in their own thoughts, and neither really noticed Dobby pop back in to remove the slightly empty tray. Severus's attention was brought back to Harry when the teen let out a rather large yawn. Severus stood slowly and made his way over to Harry and gently took hold of the younger man's arm.

"Come on Potter; let's get you off to bed." At this Harry shook his head.

"But Professor, it's no where near time for bed; I mean the others haven't even come back from Hogsmead yet." Harry whined out, sounding almost cute. At this Severus went wide eyed and tried to shake the thought that had just crossed his mind.

"Let me rephrase that then. Let's get you some sleep so you at least make it to dinner." At this a small laugh escaped from Harry and then he noticed that Severus wasn't leading him from the room.

Severus led Harry to the extra room and opened the door quickly and let out a small sigh, thanking the house elves in his mind for keeping the room clean. He then led Harry over to the bed and waited until the younger man was seated before he spoke again.

"While this is an extra room, I pray that you will refrain from doing more than sleeping in it. I'll be back to wake you in an hour." Severus said quickly before hurrying from the room.

Once the door was closed again Harry simply sat there and blinked once or twice in confusion as to what had just happened before a yawn escaped him and he decided he would figure it out later at the moment sleep seemed like a much better idea to him that anything else. Quickly he crawled under the blankets and let sleep wash over his tired body.

Out in the main room Severus sat himself behind the desk there and pulled out a stack of first year potions essays in hopes that the mindless dribble would somewhat take his mind off of the younger man sleeping just a room away. This thought made Severus sigh and run a hand thought his hair before closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. _What are you doing Severus?! You read one or two journal entries and now you've got the blasted boy sleeping in your rooms! You're going soft in your old age. _A voice sneered in the back of his mind sounding and awful lot like his father. _He needs someone Severus, take care of him _another voice chimed in sounding amazingly like Albus. He sighed again before what could only be described like a growl escaped from him.

"Great I hear voices in my head now, but neither of them is mine!" He said before letting his head bounce off the desk with a groan.

"Something troubling you Severus?" A voice asked from the doorway. Severus looked up to seen none other than Albus with the annoying twinkle in his eye.

"No nothing, now get out!" Severus snapped pointing at the door that Albus had just come though. Severus still wasn't sure how the man managed to get past the wards without knowing Severus's password, though Severus wouldn't be surprised if he did. The thought was rather bothersome. Was there anything the man didn't know?

"Come now Severus, I was worried when you didn't show up for tea as usual." Albus said giving the Potions Professor and knowing look. "Though I can feel that Harry is here, so maybe I'm not all that surprised." He said as his eyes continued to twinkle.

"Just what the hell is that suppose to mean Albus?!" At this Albus did his best to look innocent.

"I didn't mean anything my boy simply that it's obvious you're trying to help him, so I'll leave you to it, I just wanted to let you know that the Ministry finally brought Harry's Uncle in for questioning." Albus said with yet another smile before turning and showing himself back out.

"Barmy old coot!" Severus snapped out before trying to turn his attention back to the essays.

His attention didn't say on the essays for very long when a book suddenly fell from the shelf. With an annoyed sigh Severus stood and headed over to where the book has landed on the floor, his eyes went wide for a moment when realized that it was his copy of Harry's journal that had fallen to the floor, and that it was opened to an entry that he hadn't read yet. He paused for a moment as he picked the book up slowly and his eyes darted over to the room that Harry was asleep in before looking back down at the book. With another sigh Severus sat back down in his chair with the book in hand started to read the entry.

**_Someone please just fucking kill me now! Where the hell is Voldemort when you need him?! Hell if he'd show up right now, I'd gladly turn myself over to him, it would be, no it probably is better than this, anything is better than this! I know for a fact that I have at least two broken ribs, and my left wrist isn't looking to good either. I'm suddenly very glad that I sent Hedwig with Ron for the summer, she probably wouldn't have survived this, and it's just too bad I couldn't go with her. It's only the second week of summer, and death is looking better and better each day. I've a feeling I'm going to have to charm my journal to simply pick up my thoughts for a while, I still thank Merlin for them passing that law about students using simple spells outside of school, because I'm starting to run out of times to write. It seems like I'm constantly trying to hide from my uncle, and now my cousin Dudley is in on it too. In fact I think he's worse, then again he always was, and he doesn't have to worry about going to jail for child abuse._**

**_There now I cast the charm, so I can save my ink in case I can manage to send a letter to Ron, or anyone for that matter. Oh god, someone's coming! Merlin help me. The door's opening, but I can't see who it is, oh god it's Dudley! NO! Get away from me! Don't touch me, STOP IT!_**

The entry wasn't over, but he couldn't manage to finish reading it as he had thrown the journal as if it had burned him. Then a wave of nausea washed over him and he ran quickly into his bathroom and emptied what was in his stomach from lunch. _Why didn't he tell us? Why did he keep it quiet? _Slowly Severus stood back up on shaky legs and headed back out to the main room while throwing a glare at the journal that now lay on his floor. Suddenly a voice caused him to jump and spin around.

"Is everything all right Professor, I thought I head someone getting sick?" Harry asked sounding slightly dazed from the doorway of the other room.

"Everything is fine Potter, though perhaps I should send you back to your common room, as I'm not feeling very well at the moment." Severus said swallowing slowly hoping that Harry couldn't pick up on anything in his voice that might give him away.

"Its fine Professor, I think maybe I will go back there and get a little more sleep before everyone else gets back from Hogsmead." Harry said simply before pulling out his wand and muttering a spell before slowly making his way towards the door. "Thanks again for lunch Professor." Harry added before slipping out the door and heading back towards his common room.

Once he was gone Severus slowly made his way back to this chair before collapsing onto and trying to chase away his thoughts and the images that were now swimming behind his eyes.

* * *

Yami Ser: Whoa… you've really got it out for the kid huh? 

Ser-Chan: Shrugs No, not really.

Harry: Looks socked what do you mean not really?!

Severus: Oh for the love of…! Just R+R!


	5. Further into the Nightmare

Ser-Chan: I'm in no mood for trouble today so just do your job. yawns

Severus: Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used) are © of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! Also if you want to archive my story again JUST ASK!

* * *

Darkness – Chapter 5 – Further into the Nightmare

Harry slowly made his way back up to Gryffindor Tower and collapsed into his bed as soon as he got there. He wasn't even sure why he was so tired, but sleep claimed him once more.

_Run… that's all Harry could do was run. He could hear someone behind him, but he still couldn't see anything. He stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a voice he recognized._

'_Potter look out!' Harry knew it was Severus's voice and stopped dead in his tracks, but before he could say anything in response Harry heard the words that he hated the most._

'_Avada Kedavra!' He heard Voldemort hiss out and Harry fell to his knees when he heard a body hit the ground._

'_Professor?!' Harry called, but no one answered. 'Pro… Professor?!' He screamed again, and stopped to wait for a response but once more no one replied. 'SEVERUS!' Harry finally screamed out._

Not long after Harry had first fallen asleep did Ron and the others come back. They had headed into the room just as Harry started to thrash about in his sleep. Once Ron caught sight of him though, he quickly sent Hermione to send Severus an owl while he got Draco to help him try to calm Harry. The two stood there at first not really sure what they could do for their friend until Harry started to cry out.

"Professor?!" he yelled; at this the other two exchanged looks before Harry cried out again, once more screaming for the Professor.

While Harry didn't say his name at first the two were sure that he was calling for Professor Snape. Gently they both took hold of Harry's hands and tried their best to calm him down. They still weren't having much success when Severus finally showed up in the room. As soon as he walked in the door though, Harry cried out yet again.

"SEVERUS!" he screamed out. The pain in his voice almost made the heart, which Severus claimed he didn't have stop.

As Harry screamed though a wave of power came flooding from him knocking everyone in the room up against the walls and blowing all the windows out of the room. When the wave of power finally started to die down Severus quickly he made his way to Harry and placed a hand on his forehead before standing and walking over to the fire place. Quickly he threw in a handful of powder and called out to Poppy.

"Poppy, it seems we're going to need a bed for Mister Potter, as it seems he's made himself ill again." Severus said simply. At this the woman nodded before disappearing from the flames.

With a small sigh Severus walked over to Harry's bed and swung the ungodly light teen up into arms and quickly made his was from the room with Ron, Draco, and Hermione hot on his heels. Despite everything he got the feeling that Ron didn't quite trust him with Harry. He almost wanted to laugh at the thought, but didn't simply because he didn't feel like listening to Ron complain about what was fair and what wasn't. While sometimes the hot headed red-head was right, Severus was never one to admit it out loud, at least not when he was concerned.

_Harry, what are we going to do with you? _Severus thought with a sigh before stopping his thoughts and blinking a few times in confusion when he realized that he had just called Harry by his given name instead of his surname in his own mind. _I guess I have reading that ruddy journal to thank for that _he thought with a sigh as he entered into the Infirmary.

"God lord Severus what's the poor boy gotten himself into now?!" Poppy exclaimed when she caught sight of Harry shaking in Severus's arms.

"I wish I could tell you, but for once I haven't a clue." Severus said while lowering Harry to one of the beds.

As Severus went to let him go though Harry curled into a ball and started to whimper and as this went on all the bottles, windows, everything made of glass threatened to shatter. Severus and the others in the room looked around in shock before looking down at the wizard who was obviously still asleep. Hermione stepped forward laid a hand on Harry's arm hoping to calm her friend, but it only seemed to enrage him more because the things in the room started to rattle worse than before. With a put upon sigh Severus shooed the teen out of the way and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed and placed a hand on his arm. As soon as their skin came into contact did the items in the room slowly stop shaking before it died off.

"Is there something anyone would like to explain to me?" A voice called from the door.

The group turned quickly to see Albus standing in the doorway with his eyes twinkling madly. _That barmy old coot knows what's going on! I'd bet my private lab on it! _Severus thought while sending a glare in Albus's direction. It wasn't just any glare either it was his "If I had my wand out right now, you'd be dead already" glare.

"Well I would attempt to, but it always seems that explaining anything to you is pointless, as you always seem to know it all." Severus grumbled out at the older man. At this Albus's eyes seemed only to twinkle more, if that was even possible.

"Ah Severus, while I'm not positive about what is happening with our young Mister Potter here, I may have a good idea, but we will discuss that at a later time when I'm a little more certain." The old wizard said with a small smile. At this Severus simply continued to glare at him wishing he could just hex the old man and be done with it.

"As you wish Headmaster." Severus said with a glare knowing how much Albus hated it when he was so formal with him.

It was at least another hour before Harry woke and Severus had to wait there the whole time. Every time he had tried to leave the younger man would simply curl up and whimper while other things would start to rattle and smash. So in the end Severus ended up sitting next to Harry's bed holding the younger man's hand. _If only you had come to us sooner Harry then you might not have had to suffer so much. _Severus found himself thinking as he watched the younger man continue to sleep. Slowly Harry started to stir and he opened his unseeing eyes quickly and gripped Severus's hand a little harder and turned in his direction.

"Professor, I… I couldn't get to you… I couldn't see you!" Harry started to sob out.

"Harry it's all right, I'm right here and we're all safe inside the castle." Severus said hoping it would calm the younger man down.

"The dre… nightmare was just so real… almost like a vision." Harry said with a small sniffle and then he noticed that Severus was holding his hand and let go slowly. "Sorry sir." He said sounding almost sad at the loss of contact with the older man.

"It's all right Potter, you've nothing to be sorry for." Severus said simply before standing up and heading from the room to find Poppy.

_So I'm back to Potter now, wish I knew what I did to get him to call me Harry,_ the teen thought to himself sadly while toying with his fingers. His thoughts then quickly turned to trying to figure out where he was. He didn't have to think long when he heard the rustling of Poppy's skirts.

"You gave us quite the scare Mister Potter; we thought you were going to bring down the whole Gryffindor Tower." She said in her usual disapproving tone. At this Harry paled.

"Everyone is okay right? No one got hurt did they?!" He asked sounding almost frantic about the whole thing. At this Severus laid a hand on Harry's arm to help calm the boy.

"Everyone is fine, a little shook up, but fine none the less. How long have those little power surges been happening?" Severus asked beating Poppy to it.

"I guess it all started at the end of my fifth year after Dumbledore told me once again that I couldn't go stay with Sirius and Remus." Harry explained with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You wouldn't happen to be the reason that there was what seemed to be an earthquake in the dungeons that year would you?" The older man asked. At this Harry's look turned rather sheepish as he nodded his head slowly.

"Sorry Professor." Harry muttered out as he turned his head in the direction of the door once more as it opened to reveal Ron, Draco, and Hermione looking worried. Severus gave the small group a nod and they moved closer to the bed.

"How ya feelin mate?" Ron asked looking his friend over.

"I'm fine, you all right?" Harry asked turning his head in their direction. He wasn't sure why, but even though he couldn't see them he still felt like he should at least turn his face in their direction.

Harry wasn't kept in the Infirmary much longer, as Poppy could see no reason to keep him once his fever broke. He wasn't feeling ill anymore, but Ron, Draco, and Hermione were given strict orders by both Poppy and Severus to keep an eye on Harry throughout the day to make sure the surge of power he let loose hadn't affected him.

And so the day seemed to roll on without any further events. Severus had found himself watching Harry at dinner, and the younger man seemed back to normal, or at least as normal as he had been so far. Severus then found his thoughts turning to the fact that he was going to start training Harry one on one in a matter of days so that he could function more at school despite his lack of sight. Once his thoughts turned to this the rest of dinner sped past and he soon found himself back in his rooms with Harry's journal in his lap.

He was sure he had put it back on the self earlier, but for some reason when he had come into his rooms after dinner it had been sitting on the small table next to his reading chair, almost as if it had been waiting for him to come and read more. With a long sigh he opened the book slowly and started reading once more from where he had left off.

_**...NO! Get away from me! Don't touch me, STOP IT! Someone, ANYONE help me! I just want the pain to stop! I want it all to end, someone kill me! **_

_**It's over now, he's gone. He had his fun. That in no way is the way anyone should be touched EVER! But that's not the first time that happened, I don't even think Vernon knows about Dudley's sick little obsession of touching his freak cousin. Every time he does it though, I wish that the Avada Kedavra wasn't an illegal unforgivable. If it wasn't I'd use it in a heartbeat. I don't think I'd have nightmares about that one.**_

Severus looked at the journal with an unreadable expression on his face, he wasn't even sure what he was feeling at that moment, but he knew all he could see was red. He wanted nothing more than to go to 4 Privet Drive and give the Dursley's what they had coming. He swallowed hard and continued further into the journal.

_**It's the end of June now, and I haven't been able to send an owl it anyone, or even send a letter the plain old Muggle way. I'd kill to know how everyone is doing right now. Hell I'd even like to know what that bitter bastard Snape is up too. Still spying is my guess.**_

_Yes, I am rather bitter aren't I? _Severus thought with a tiny smirk crossing his face over Harry's comment.

_**Sometimes I wonder what it was exactly that made him join a group of people like the Death Eaters. And I know it as very little to do with the whole 'I'm in Slytherin, so I must follow the Dark Lord' shit that everyone tells me. I know there are decent people in Slytherin, or that have been in Slytherin. Draco's decent, has to be or Ron wouldn't be with him. I know that Snape's decent, otherwise Dumbledore would have let him rot in Azkaban, then again Dumbledore can be an over trusting idiot at times, so ya never know, but I think he's right about Snape, or at least I hope so.**_

_I sometimes wonder if Dumbledore is to trusting myself, maybe Potter does have a head worth saving on his shoulders._ Severus thought setting the journal down for a minute while he went into his little kitchen to make tea for himself. He settled back down into his chair and continued.

_**I think it's sometime in July now, I couldn't tell you for sure, they took everything from my room. Now all I have in here is my bed, my desk, and a chair. They bricked up the window, so I don't know if Hedwig's even tried to come back. Thank Merlin they don't know about the broken floor bored, or else they might have gotten hold of my cloak, wand, and the photo album of my parents. I think it's safe to say they burned everything else. Guess I won't be handing any assignments in at the beginning of the term this year. **_

_**Let me see, what was it I did to deserve this? Oh yes I remember, I wouldn't let Dudley play with me, so what did he do? He ran to his mum and dad, crying that I tried to use magic on him, and what did that get me? About three hours of beating, and most of everything I own burnt! Snape will love it when I come back to school without any of my work. I just wish there were a way for me to get out of here that didn't involve anyone finding out about any of this, I haven't told anyone, not even Ron or Hermione, and I don't intend to start telling people now. I mean if I did, I could just see the headlines on the Daily Prophet front page: Boy Who Lived, Can't Fend Off Muggle! I'd never live through it, I'd never live it down, and so I'll continue in silence, it's really all I can do.**_

_Sometimes silence is your worst enemy._ that was a hard thought for Severus to even complete, because he had always found silence to be an all too brief blessing. _Now I see that it's not, to some people it's a curse worse than the unforgivables._ he thought looking down at the entry again. He then went to turn the page, when the journal started flipping pages by itself. Finally it stopped, and it was the beginning of August. Severus looked down at the journal and read slowly.

_**Well its official I'm sixteen! I'm now legal; I guess I shouldn't be too happy about that, now Vernon doesn't have to worry about child abuse charges. It probably would have been better if my birthday had never come at all last week. Hmm, here comes Vernon I wonder what he wants. Now dear journal is when I turn you into a recorder. **_

_**"Boy?" steps heard**_

_**"Yes Uncle Vernon?" steps heard coming closer.**_

_**"Your legal now boy." steps stop, silence. "Now I'll put you to some good use." laughter. Sounds of screams, fists connecting with target (Harry stomach). Sounds of cloth ripping.**_

_**"Get off me! Let me go! Stop that, it hurts!" **_

Severus flinched at the screams he read on the journal page; it was more than clear what was happening to Harry by that point. Suddenly the written screams stopped, and Severus read something about, a zipper being zipped, and a door closing. Severus threw the book from his lap and unto the floor as if it had burned him once more. He then looked at it for a moment, but then picked it back up, because it was back to being written in Harry's own hand, so he continued.

_**After last night, I think I know what will appear on my tombstone: Here lies Harold James Potter, Savor of the Wizarding World, Plaything of Muggles, sixteen, raped, and broken. Great here comes Dudley, I guess he wants his turn. I'll be damned if he thinks he'll get one! **_

_**Well I managed to fight him off, it took me a while, but I did it! It cost me pretty much too, but if you don't consider a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, and three more broken ribs much, then I guess it only cost me a little. But it could have been more; the fat bastard could have killed me right?**_

As Severus finished reading this he slammed the journal closed fuming. He had nothing but murder on his mind and he had half a mind to owl Black and tell him what had happened, but then the mutt really would be guilty of murder, and Severus didn't want that on his head, though he'd be right there with him to hex the Dursley family into oblivion.

As he continued to sit there thinking on different ways to kill that disgusting family he was startled out of his thoughts as Albus appeared through his fire.

"Fudge goes to far this time!" Albus bellowed out. Severus looked up at Albus with a slightly dumbfounded look. "They let that foul Vernon Dursley go!" He added.

"What?! What do you mean they let him go?!" Severus shouted out not believing what he had just heard from the other man, even though he knew that Albus only knew of the latest attack the man had committed.

"They didn't even give him Veritaserum! They simply took him at his word. Apparently Fudge did the questioning himself." Albus ground out.

"Of all the idiotic things I've heard coming from the Ministry, I think this one is one of the top. I can't believe they would…" Severus rant was cut off when Albus suddenly spun around and fixed him with a very stern look.

Severus looked carefully at his mentor and friend, and could see that Albus was getting close to a silent fury, the twinkle was gone from his eyes and the joy was totally wiped from his demeanor. This, this was the Albus Dumbledore that defeated Grindelwald all those years ago.

"Severus I want you to go to #4 Privet Drive, and pay the Dursley family a little visit." At this Severus smirked. "Feel free to use any means you deem fitting to get the answers we are looking for." Albus added.

"Of course." Severus said, a dark look crossing over his own features almost mirroring the look of the other man.

Then without another word Severus grabbed his cloak and headed quickly from his rooms after making sure his flask of Veritaserum was full. He stalked down the halls quickly and out the main doors of Hogwarts. As he hurried across the grounds to the Disapparating point one thought crossed his mind.

After reading Harry's journal, he had wanted nothing more than to torture those stupid Muggles until they admitted what they did to Harry and now thanks to that idiot in office Fudge he was about to get his wish. So with another smirk and a pop he was gone.

* * *

Ser-Chan: Well that was a little shorter than normal, but there is going to be Dursley torture abound next chapter. (grins) 

Severus: (Grins) I think I'm rather looking forward to that.

Yami Ser: Can I help? (Smirks and rubs her hands together)

Ser-Chan: No Yami you can't, you don't belong in the Harry Potter Universe!

Yami Ser: No fair! (Pouts as Severus smirks at her. She then growls and runs after him)

Harry: (Shakes his head slightly.) They'll never learn… please R+R!


	6. In Which Severus Seeks Revenge

Ser-Chan: (Walks up yawning)

Yami Ser: Why so tired hikari?

Ser-Chan: This is the 6th chapter we've started fixing in two days… (Glares at the computer)

Severus: (Walks up looking annoyed as always) Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used) are © of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! Also if you want to archive my story again JUST ASK!!

* * *

Darkness – Chapter 6 – In Which Severus Seeks Revenge

Severus Snape emerged with a pop inside the living room of #4 Privet Drive, looking around the room with his usual sneer in place. His attention was then caught by what looked to be some sort of quaking mass sitting on the sofa across from him, and he quickly realized that it wasn't a mass; it was what seemed to be a young man, a very large, okay a very fat young man. Before Severus had chance to even say anything the boy began to speak, or rather screech would be a better word for the terrible sound.

"Dad! Another one of those… those freaks is here!" He howled out. Severus shook his head slightly to clear his ears and glared at the large child, with a look that would make a first year wet their pants.

Suddenly Severus went wide eyed as he heard a rather loud thumping sound, and felt small tremors through the floor boards before he was face to face with what looked like a red walrus, the biggest walrus he'd ever seen to be honest.

"I've had enough of you freaks today!" It screamed out. At this Severus raised a fine eyebrow and sneered down at the man slightly, not actually being that much taller than the thing that was barking at him.

"Ah you must be Dursley Sr." He said in what he was sure was his deadliest tone of voice, it being the one he used when he attended Death Eaters raids and meetings.

"Well of course I am, and I don't care who the hell you are! All you damn freaks are the same, just as strange as that little bastard we were stuck with." Vernon continued to roar out. Severus's scowl increased at the other man's ranting.

"Well in that case, Immobulus!" Severus roared out. He smirked slightly as the two male Dursley's fell over with a thud. "That should hold you for the moment, but please don't stop ranting on my account." Severus sneered at the two of them who were looking up at him wide-eyed. "Now we can continue to do this the hard way, which you seem so fond of, or we can do this the easy way, it's up to you." Severus continued in almost a bored tone.

Vernon and Dudley both looked up at him with matching semi-blank glaring expressions. Severus let out an annoyed sigh and pointed his wand at them again.

"Fine have it your way." But before he could cast the spell, a whimpering sound caught his attention. He raised an eyebrow at the two on the floor who simply went wide-eyed again, as they also heard the sound. So Severus did the obvious thing and followed the noise. The sound led him to a cupboard under the stairs that had more locks than was necessary and Severus scowled. _This is where they kept him, this is where they shut him away._ Severus's blood boiled at this but he pushed his anger aside for the moment and pointed his wand at the door.

"Alohomora!" He hissed out. As he did the locks practically jumped from the door, with all the anger behind the spell. The door then swung open to reveal a rather beaten Petunia Dursley. "By Merlin woman what happened to you?!" Severus barked out at her.

"I found out what they did." She said sadly, "I heard them talking about it, about their 'Good times with the freak.' I didn't need to hear much else to know they were talking about Harry." At this Severus looked gob smacked.

"You mean you didn't know?! You idiot woman! How could you not know what those vile pricks were up to?!" he snapped out at her and she hung her head slightly.

"I'm not a mind reader, I can't know what Harry wouldn't tell me, and I asked. I'd ask him every time I'd sneak food up to him, and he'd always say there was nothing to tell, and that it was best that I not know anything." she continued on as tears started to fall.

"That idiot Gryffindor, that is something he would do. Always trying to protect others even at the cost of his own safety." Severus muttered out more to himself than to Petunia. "Well Miss Evans," He started while pointing his wand at her and healing most of her injuries. "I would leave quickly if I were you." His use of her maiden name wasn't lost on Petunia and she nodded as she turned and headed for the door, but she paused before stepping outside.

"If you could, please tell Harry I'd like to see him again." She said. At her small request Severus nodded his head slowly and then once the door was shut Severus stalked his way back out to the living room where the to large Dursley's paled and started to shake at the sight of him.

"Expositus!" Severus barked out whole pointing his wand at Vernon's mouth and pouring in a few drops of Veritaserum into the large man's mouth. "I've just given you a truth potion, now you don't have a choice but to tell me what I want to know." Severus said with a smirk as a look of horror crossed the older Dursley's face.

Severus then set about conjuring a phonograph to record everything that was said, well at least for now anyway. He wasn't going to be held responsible for his own actions later, so he didn't want there to be any proof of them.

"Now first off, did you hit Harry in the head?" he asked first, while glaring down at the tied man laying on the floor like a bound hog.

"Many times." Vernon said with a scowl. At this Severus rolled his eyes realizing that he would have to be much more specific this time.

"Did you hit Harry in the head the day he was to leave for school this year?" he hissed out in annoyance.

"Yes, damn freak broke one of my plates." Vernon growled.

"What did you hit him with and where did you get it from?" Severus asked already losing his patience.

"A week ago some man came into my job, went by the name of Peter, nice looking man, little skittish though, gave me this club of sorts, said that he'd heard that damn freak saying that he was going to tell, and that if I wanted to stop him I'd hit him with it. Chap gave me a good bit of money to do it too. Never said what he wanted with the freak though." Vernon spouted out. At this Severus pinched the bridge of his nose and then scowled at Vernon once again.

"Well where in the bloody hell is the club?" Severus more or less demanded.

"In the kitchen by the back door, some place I set it after I hit the little bastard with it." Vernon said in a rather flat tone. At this Severus simple nodded and decided it was time to move on to the more pressing questions in his mind.

"Did you beat Harry?" He asked his gaze almost burning a hole into the other man.

"Almost everyday, he's just another freak, something that shouldn't have been born, he had it coming and he knew it." Vernon said. At this Severus frowned wondering to himself for a moment what could possibly make someone think something like that.

"Did you rape him?" Severus asked sternly. He knew the answer already, but he had to hear it from the bastard sitting on the floor in front of him.

"Yes." Was all the fat man said, but it was all Severus needed to hear. He didn't want to hear anymore out of him for the moment so he threw up a silencing charm around him and turned his attention to Dudley who was still staring at him with wide-eyes.

"Will you tell me the truth, or will I have to treat you the same way I treated your father?" Severus asked with a sneer at the younger man.

"I'll tell you the truth I swear." Dudley blubbered out.

"Of course you will." Severus said with a frown before continuing. "Did you beat Harry up?" At this Dudley simply nodded afraid to answer verbally. "Did you ever touch him in a sexual manner?" Severus ground out.

"Only a few times, he fought back a lot after the first time." Dudley whispered out. At this Severus's eyes flashed in hatred for the two men before him.

"Did you rape him?" He finally asked and Dudley went wide-eyed again and shook his head.

"No! I wouldn't… He was dad's slut not mine." Dudley said sounding almost sad. But Severus couldn't tell if he was genuinely upset, or if he was only upset because he hadn't gotten a chance to rape Harry as well.

Finally Severus had heard enough and pointed his wand first at the phonograph so it stopped recording and then at Vernon so that he could hear what he was about to say next. Then with a quickly muttered spell Vernon's mouth was pried open yet again and he went wide eyed as Severus approached him.

"It must have been so easy taking advantage of a boy who could barely fight back. So now let's see how you like doing it to your own son." He hissed out while pouring the potion in his hand down Vernon's throat.

The potion he had just given the walrus of a man was more or less a liquid form of the Imperious Curse. It was not only untraceable, but it was also unable to be tracked by the Ministry, Severus should know, because he was the one who had created it during his earlier years as a Death Eater and Voldemort's instructions had been exact.

"I was rather clever back then wasn't I?" Severus mused to himself with a small satisfied smirk playing on his lips. He then watched silently as Vernon's eyes glazed over as the potion took effect.

"I'm going to lift my spell but when I do, you fat idiot, I want to fuck that pile of blubber you call a son." Severus hissed out quickly before lifting the spell that was binding Vernon.

He continued to watch for a moment as Vernon roughly grabbed Dudley and bent the large teen over before ripping off his pants. Severus then simply stepped out of the room and listened to Vernon's grunts and Dudley's screams and cries of pain with a smirk on his face. He left this all go on probably longer than needed to teach the two of them their lesson, but he wasn't really all that concerned with their mental and physical well being.

Severus turned and stepped back into the room to find Vernon still pumping while Dudley just lay there now whimpering, having lost the strength to scream. With a small "Gwala" Severus stopped the effects of the potion and Vernon looked down in horror.

"You sick fuck! What did you make me do?!" Vernon roared while managing to pull himself out of Dudley.

"Nothing you haven't already done before!" Severus snapped out at the man. He then conjured a gun, since Muggles seemed so fond of them and placed it on the table. "I'm leaving but I'll leave you with this thought, how many of your neighbors heard your little cow there screaming at the top of his lungs? And how long before your fine Muggle Police get here I wonder, and how interested would they been to hear what's on my little record that I made?" he asked then thoughtfully. "Enjoy your evening." He said, a small smirk working its way into place.

Severus then turned walked out of the room and headed for the kitchen picking up the club then headed out the back door. He wasn't worried about Vernon trying to shoot him; the gun was charmed only to work on the two people left in the room. As he made his way out to the main walkway of the house and outside the wards, he paused and listened for a moment before he heard two satisfying gun shots.

It was after that with a smirk firmly in place that Severus left #4 Privet Drive with a small pop and returned to Hogwarts.

Back in Gryffindor Tower, Harry awoke with start and nearly fell out of his bed in his hurry to Ron and Draco. The two woke with a start, having fallen asleep watching Harry when they felt the weight shift on the bed. Ron was the first to sit up and spotted the distraught looking Harry.

"What's wrong mate?" he asked quickly and Draco too sat up and looked at their clearly worried friend.

"Take me to the entry way please!" he said sounding almost desperate. The two nodded and quickly helped Harry out of the Gryffindor dorm and down to the main entry way of the castle, really only having to pause for a moment as one of the staircases shifted.

No sooner did they reach their destination did the castle doors open to reveal an alarmingly pleased looking Severus Snape. He spotted the three and noting Harry distressed expression looked at Ron and Draco with a questioning look, but the two could only shrug, until Harry started to speak.

"What did you do?" he asked flatly. Severus was half tempted to deny anything, at least for now, but Harry already got the feeling that he'd try something like that and spoke again. "God damn it Snape what did you do?!" He yelled out, all formal niceties between Professor and student were thrown out the window as Harry's voice cracked in anger.

"I merely paid your Muggle family a visit at Albus's request. Nothing more Potter." Severus said hoping to end things quickly. He didn't even bother taking House Points, knowing it would do no good now.

"You're lying!" Harry yelled. "I heard their screams in my head!" He continued to scream out while slowly moving towards Severus until he was gripping the front of his robes. "I- I heard them." He choked out as the windows and doors started to rattle and groan.

Severus slowly reached up and placed his hands on Harry's arms and looked down at him with a blank expression. Ron and Draco were still watching the two, not really all that sure what to make of what they were seeing, but being amazed by it nonetheless.

"P- Harry, do not let yourself get worked up over the two of them, they aren't worth it." Severus said softly. At his words Harry looked up at Severus with wide unseeing eyes.

"The two of them? But Aunt Petunia…" Harry started but trailed off slightly as Severus cut him off.

"Is safe. I found her locked in the cupboard under the stairs and sent her on her way. In fact she said she wants to see you." He said hoping that this would bring the younger man some sort of comfort. Harry seemed fine with the information as things started to settle, until he had mentioned Petunia wanting to see him. He then paled and shook his head.

"No! I can't see her!" He exclaimed quickly. He then snapped his face towards Severus once more. "You know too, don't you?" He asked, his voice was barely a whisper as he tried to suddenly pull away from Severus. Severus didn't let him though, simply tightening his grip on the teen's shoulders.

"Harry," the teen started to struggle. "Damn it Harry, yes I know, but I don't care." At this Harry froze, but said nothing. "It doesn't make you any less than what you are, a survivor." He said simply at those words Harry broke, his body finally giving into everything that had gone on since the beginning of the year and he passed out into Severus's arms.

Once again Severus swept Harry up into his arms and hurried towards the Infirmary, with Ron and Draco following behind him. Ron was still completely lost about what was going on, but Draco had a pretty good idea, but decided not to say anything, more for Harry's sake than anything else. As they got closer to the doors Severus nodded towards the doors and Ron and Draco ran ahead of him and pushed them open, Ron then running to get Poppy. The medi-witch appeared seconds later and looked at Severus puzzled for a moment before he motioned to the unconscious teen in his arms. Poppy motioned for Severus to follow her and led him back to one of the private rooms. Severus laid Harry down gently and stepped back from the teen so that Poppy could get a look at him.

She scanned Harry's body with her wand and frowned slightly before she turned to Severus with a puzzled expression.

"I know there is something wrong, but my scans are coming up normal. We're going to need Albus to break the charms the boy's placed on himself." She said simply before stepping out of the room to where Ron and Draco were still waiting. "If one of you would run and fetch the Headmaster please." She commanded more than asked. Without another word Ron headed out at full speed to the Headmaster's office.

It wasn't long before he returned with the Headmaster hot on his heels. Albus headed into the room with Poppy and Severus and pointed his wand at Harry's now mostly naked body. As he prepared to say the spell Severus laid a hand on the older man's shoulder.

"I must warn you Albus, you're probably in for quite the shock, both of you are." He said glancing at Poppy before stepping back from Albus.

Finally with a muttered spell all the charms and spells that Harry kept cast on himself, unless he was alone in the shower fell away while Poppy and Albus could only look on in horror.

"In Merlin's name…" Albus said in shock trailing off before Poppy shook herself from her own shock and shooed the two others from the room.

"This may take a while." She said simply before closing the door behind herself.

* * *

Definitions:  
Expositus - Open in Latin  
Gwala - Stop in Welsh 

SerChan: Oooo is that a way to end the chapter or what? By the way I know people that hate the Dursley's as a whole aren't going to like the bit with Petunia, well... tough! I personally like to think that she's isn't all bad, that perhaps it's just her husband that makes her that way, what can I say, I hate Vernon...

Yami Ser: The readers will kill you for that you know.

SerChan: Yeah probably, which is why I'm going to post Chap 7 very soon.

Harry: x.X

Yami Ser: Good idea… R+R!


	7. Revealing the Nightmare

Severus: (Walks up without being told this time) Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used and any original material or characters) are (c) of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! If you want to archive my story, just ask about that too okay? Though it can be found on our site as well.

Yami Ser: Also now hints of DH information, but twisted to fit our story. I had no idea she was going to use the name Ariana! (scowls)

Ser-Chan: Also to Mie Mie our site can be found through our member page on here, but it hasn't been updated for sometime. (frowns)

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Darkness – Chapter 7 – Revealing the Nightmare 

"I never imagined…" Albus said trailing off, shaking his head slightly. He then looked up noticing that Ron and Draco were still there. "I'm sorry my boys, as much as I would like to let you know what's going on, that's really for Harry to explain to you. Please head back to your rooms." Albus said, at the moment not really caring about which room they ended up in.

"I don't think so Sir! What's wrong with Harry?!" Ron yelled out, not caring who he was talking too.

"Mister Weasley! Draco, you're a smart lad, please take your little boyfriend back to the Gryffindor Tower. And 20 points from Gryffindor for speaking back to the Headmaster." Severus finally spoke up, trying to keep his tone bored, but there was no venom behind the house point deduction like there usually was. Draco nodded quickly at what was said to him. From the look on Ron's face Severus knew they would probably be back with that damned invisibility cloak of Harry's once the rest of them were off to bed.

"Ron come on, I think I know what's happening and I'll explain it back in the common room, to you and Hermione both." He said in a whisper so that only Ron could hear him.

With an angry sigh and few more protests and then finally a nod Ron allowed Draco to lead him out of the Hospital Wing and back to the Gryffindor Tower. Once the two were gone from sight if not hearing range Severus finally commented on Albus's earlier remark.

"That's just it Albus, none of us even tried to imagine, we didn't question things when we should have, you of all people never do when it comes to Potter." Snape snapped out at the older man.

With a heavy heart Albus nodded his head knowing full well he had a hand in all of this, whether he had meant to or not. And now, he couldn't get the image of Harry's battered body out of his mind.

When the spell had dropped all of the spells and charms that Harry had placed on himself, Albus found himself taking a step backwards from the boy. The first thing he noticed was Harry's face, there was a large angry gash that looked halfway healed along the left side of his temple and Albus couldn't help but this that's where Vernon had hit him. The right side of Harry's face was swollen and bruised also. Then there was the bruising on Harry's chest and ribs. The skin was so discolored it looked almost black, the bruising also continued down his abdomen and dipped down below the waistband of his boxers.

Albus's gaze was then drawn to Harry's left arm; the bruising was around the shoulder socket indicating that it had been displaced for sometime and there was some bruising down his left forearm as if it had been slammed in something. His over looking of Harry's body was then caught off shortly after he had started as Poppy had shooed him and Severus out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Albus and Severus then sat in silence for the next few minutes as Poppy was busy looking over Harry until the medi-witch finally stepped out of the room, her eyes red and her head bowed slightly.

"Albus…" she trailed off, obviously not wanting to say what she had too, so he saved her the trouble.

"Oh my dear, they didn't?" He asked even though he knew it was hopeless to ask for her to say otherwise. The bruises the boy had suffered were just too much for it to be anything else at least as far as Albus was concerned. With a small sniffle Poppy simply nodded her head before stepping back into the room and closing the door once more.

"Foul vermin! I'll kill them myself!" Albus bellowed, his emotions finally getting the better of him.

"You won't get that chance Albus." Severus said simply. At his words Albus's hard gaze turned to him.

"Severus…" he started firmly, but trailed off when Severus shook his head in the negative.

"No I didn't, but I may have done something that made Dursley Senior kill his son and then himself." Severus said dryly. Surprisingly enough at the information Albus smirked slightly, a dark smirk, one that wouldn't be associated with the old man, but one that Severus knew he was capable of.

"Nothing less than they deserved I'm sure." He remarked until his gaze turned hard again and he looked at Severus. "But you knew Severus, and yet you said nothing!" Albus snapped out.

"I couldn't tell you anything Albus, especially something like that, something I shouldn't have even known in the first place!" Severus snapped back at the older man. Before Albus could respond though Poppy stepped back out, obviously finally finished with her evaluation.

"What the extent of the damage Poppy?" Albus asked turning his full attention to her and ignoring Severus.

"He's suffered so much Albus." She said sadly. "He's got extensive bruising, which I'm sure you saw, I managed to finally reset his shoulder properly, three fractured ribs, which was causing a small amount of internal bleeding, and lastly the rapes." She said, but before she could finish Albus cut her off.

"Rapes?! You mean it happened more than once?!" He yelled out causing both Poppy and the medi-witch the portrait to jump at his tone.

"By the looks of it Albus, it's been happening since last year, but I can only track the damage back to the previous five times." She said wishing there was more she could do. "With the potions and charms at my disposal I can have his body back in one piece in two days, but with loosing his sight and everything else, I can't attest to his emotional state of mind, that could take years." She said sounding more depressed than Severus had ever heard her.

Severus finally turned his attention back to Albus, who looked pale and suddenly very much his age. Albus slowly brought a hand up to his brow before he started to speak again.

"Do what you can for him Poppy. Severus, come with me." He said sternly before heading for the door. "And Poppy, He is to have no visitors." He added before walking out.

Severus started to make his way to the door, but paused for a moment and turned back around, walking back into the room where Harry was being kept. He looked for a moment at the teen's pained expression, even as he was in a magically induced sleep. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but Severus reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a small stone, it was dark green in color, but with fleck of red and black running all through it. He placed it in the pocket of the pajama top Harry was now wearing before turning and heading from the room and the Infirmary as well.

Even as Severus approached Albus's office he still couldn't figure out what had made him give Harry the stone, the stone was in fact a gift to him from his own mother before she took her own life. He pushed the thoughts aside and walked into the older man's office.

"Sit down Severus." Albus said motioning to the seat across from his desk. Severus did as he was told, but said nothing. "So let me get this right my boy, you knew what happened, but you didn't tell me?" He asked his voice deathly even.

"I only just found out myself Albus; you can't honestly think I would keep something like that from you for long. I'm not that heartless Uncle." Severus snapped out. He honestly felt offended by the way Albus was treating him at the moment. At this bit of information Albus's face softened a little.

"My apologies Severus, but ever since Harry has come to the school Minerva and I have looked at him as our own, very much like we do with you." He said almost sadly. At this Severus nodded, but his face remained serious.

"And that's exactly why you didn't see what was happening to the boy." Severus said firmly ignoring the comment involving himself. "It doesn't excuse you anymore than it excuses me from not seeing it either." He said more to himself than anything, but Albus still heard it, but didn't comment on Severus's obvious slip of the tongue.

"I suppose the only question left it what to do with young Harry. Christmas is fast approaching, and with his power surges happening, as well as trying to cope with his new condition, Sirius and Remus aren't very good candidates to take him in." Albus said trailing off slightly and fixing Severus with a look. At this Severus quickly realized what the older man wanted.

"Oh no you don't Albus! I've already got my hands full taking in Lucius and Draco! God knows that Weasley boy will be there to spend time with Draco." Severus muttered out with a visible shudder at the thought of a Weasley in his family home.

"Severus there's no one else to take him that can handle him, not now." Albus said almost sadly. At this Severus glared at his Uncle with a frown on his face.

"Care to tell me why you can't take him, or why he can't even stay here in the castle?" He snapped out quickly.

"Come now Severus, you know your Aunt wants to spend the holiday with her family this year, and far be it from me to deny her." He said as the damned twinkle, that Severus hated so much made its way back into Albus's eyes.

"Haven't I done enough for the boy already this year?" Severus muttered out bringing a hand to his head with a small sigh. At this Albus gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Please Severus, as a favor for your Uncle." Albus said, the twinkle in his eyes increasing ever so slightly. At his request Severus scowled even more than before and stood back up slowly before leaning forward and placing his hands on Albus's desk and looking the older man dead in the eye.

"This is the last time I do anything for you." He bit out before turning on his heel and heading back out of the office slamming the doors closed behind him.

"Oh my boy, you already care for him more than you want to admit." Albus mused aloud to himself, but he wasn't all that surprised as Fawkes let out a noise of agreement.

It wasn't until he was halfway to his destination that Severus realized that his feet were carrying him back to the Infirmary. He paused for a moment looking at the doors thoughtfully before taking a step inside. He the looked around for a moment to find that Poppy was no where to be found, then again once the spells were in effect and the Potions where given there was only so much she could do and she wouldn't do Harry any good if she were tired. With small sigh to himself Severus pushed the door open and stepped into the room, and quickly found that Harry wasn't alone.

There surrounding him were Ron, Draco, and Hermione. The three looked truly distraught and from the looks on their faces it was more than obvious that they hadn't seen their friend without his charms, and that they now had a pretty good idea about what had happened to him. The three all turned quickly to see Severus, but before they could open their mouths to try and explain Severus gave a small shake of his head.

"You have nothing to explain to me, but 5 points from Gryffindor and 5 points from Slytherin, you lot are no good to him if you aren't rested. No arguments go." Ron and Hermione said nothing, too shocked by seeing Harry and Severus's attitude towards them, so they headed towards the doors, Ron trying to calm the girl down. As he approached the door to the room Draco turned.

"Severus, he's going to be alright, isn't he?" The blond asked clearly worried about his new friend. At this Severus tried to shake his head and nod all at the same time, when he couldn't he simply sighed instead.

"His body will be fine in about two days time, but he's going to need you and those other two more than ever, but you must not tell him you know. That would hurt him more than anything right now." Severus said simply before motioning towards the door. "Now get going." He said simply. Draco gave a small nod before turning and heading to catch up with the other two.

Once he was gone from sight Severus moved to the chair in the room to Harry's bedside and simply sat there for a long moment studying the sleeping teen. He didn't know how long it was he had been sitting there when Harry's blank eyes suddenly sprang open darting towards Severus. The older man damn near fell from his chair as Harry sat up quickly.

"You let this happen; all of you did this to me!" He yelled out as things in the small room started to rattle and smash. "How could you?" The teen choked out.

Severus was gob smacked to say the least, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, or even seeing for that matter, but still there was nothing he could say that would disprove what Harry had said, they were all to blame for not seeing the signs when they were there. What Severus couldn't wrap his mind around was the fact that Harry was up and talking. There was simply no way he should have been, but the fright and hurt in the teens face was definitely real. Severus stood on suddenly shaky legs and moved over to the edge of Harry's bed before seating himself.

"Potter." At hearing the sound of his name Harry stiffened and turned his head as best he could in Severus's direction.

"I- I didn't know anyone was here." He said, a small tremor passing through his body, which war obviously caused by the potions that Poppy had given him.

"From the way you were talking, I thought you did." Severus said dryly. At this Harry tilted his head slightly as though confused by what Severus was saying.

"What do you mean by the way I was talking?" He asked sounding as confused as he looked. At this Severus looked at him in shock.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You just sat right up and accused everyone of letting this happen to you, and you don't remember?" At this Harry shook his head sadly and pulled his knees up to his chest. _I'll have to mention this to Albus_ Severus thought to himself. "You should be sleeping Potter." Severus said as he tried to help Harry lay back down, but as he did so Harry started to struggle slightly.

"Please no! I can't take the nightmares anymore!" He cried out grabbing onto the front Severus's robe once more. At his words Severus froze and glanced down at the near hysterical teen before wrapping an arm around him lightly.

"All right Harry, calm down." Severus said starting to speak to Harry as he would perhaps Draco when he was upset. Harry's breathing slowly started to even out and the items in the room started to settle once more, but his grip on Severus remained deathly tight. "Come on Harry, you're safe now." Severus said hoping that he was sounding something akin to soothing.

"But for how long? Who's ever going to want me now?" Harry muttered out, seemingly more to himself than Severus, but the man answered the question anyway.

"I'm going to make you a promise Mister Potter; I will do everything in my power to help you through this, as long as you don't give up." Severus said. He knew he was going out on a limb, but in the back of his mind he also knew that the teen needed something to hang on to at the moment. When he listened closely the voice that was telling him to be that something sounded an awful lot like his mother. Gods he missed her voice. She was far more pleasant to listen to in his mind than Albus or his father.

At his words Harry sniffled for a moment, but his grip slowly started to loosen on Severus's robe as he slowly nodded his head.

"I promise too Sir, thank you." Harry said softly. He then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Sir, how much would it cost me to hire you to try and find a way to reverse this potion?" He asked motioning towards he still unseeing eyes.

"That, Mister Potter would be an honor to help you with." Severus said before standing back up from the bed. As he did though, he noticed the worried look that passed over Harry's face. "A question?" Severus asked. At this Harry nodded, and started to toy with his fingers.

"Who are you and what have you done with Severus Snape?" Harry asked. At the question Severus stopped moving for a moment and looked in Harry's direction thoughtfully.

Had he really changed all that much over the past few months? Yes, he supposed he had, but the change hadn't been all at once, nor had it been an easy one. He knew he would always have his vicious moments, but for now he was simply going to go with it, at least for the time being.

"I assure you Harry Potter that I am still me, just as you are still you. But I think that we have a bit of a better understanding of each other, or rather you're finally meeting the Severus that Draco and Albus know. I'd appreciate it very much if you didn't let Albus know about any of this though. I've a feeling that the old coot is planning something already." Severus said with annoyed grumble.

At this Harry simply nodded and continued to think of Severus's words as the Potions Master went about locating some Dreamless Sleep Potion for the younger man. When he found it he headed back into the room and handed a small bit to Harry who, like a semi decent potions student, smelled it for poisons, and Severus was sure that if the teen had still had his wand on him he would have checked it, but satisfied with his smell test Harry downed the potion and settled back down.

Severus moved back towards the doorway continued to watch Harry as the teens eyes started to droop lower.

"Potter, I do have some bad news for you though, it seems Albus would think it best if you spent your Christmas Holiday with me. Sleep well." He said with a small frown creeping across his face.

"What?!" Was all Harry managed to get out before the potion kicked in and knocked him out, but as he drifted off the only thought on his mind was: _What's that sneaky old man have up his sleeve now?

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_

SerChan: I didn't like it as much as I thought I would… (grumbles)

YamiSer: Severus seemed a bit OOC in that chapter.

SerChan: I KNOW! (glares) I didn't do it on purpose. (pouts) I'll try to fix it next chapter.

Harry: x.X

SerChan: Oops! Forgot he was like that again, everyone R+R!


	8. Explain this to me again…

Severus: (Walks up without being told this time) Harry Potter, character, names, and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling.

Ser-Chan: However the plot and ideas in this story (or rather the way they are combined and used) are © of YPS (Yaoi Princess Serena aka Ser-Chan and Yami Ser) please if you want to use my idea JUST ASK!!! Also if you want to archive my story again JUST ASK!!

Yami Ser: Also hints of DH information, but twisted to fit our story. I had no idea she was going to use the name Ariana! (scowls)

Severus: Could we just get on with the bloody story?! (starts swearing under his breath)

Ser-Chan: All right fine!

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Darkness – Chapter 8 – Explain this to me again…

Thanks to the amount of potion that Severus had given him, Harry spent the two days that his body needed to heal, blissfully unconscious, unaware of his friends sneaking in to his room in the wee hours of the morning to see him, nor was he aware of Albus coming to sit with him. Though, somewhere deep in his mind, or maybe even deep in his heart, he knew when Severus came to sit with him.

Needless to say Poppy was a bit disappointed when her prediction of two days turned out to be a bit off, because it wasn't until halfway into his third day there that Harry finally started to stir and it just so happened to be while Severus was there with him. Severus had actually been busy reading up on blindness in the wizarding world and various methods that had been tried in the past to cure it when he heard a slight moaning sound coming from Harry's direction.

"Potter?" He asked slowly wondering if the boy was indeed awake now. Another small moan at the sound of his name caused Severus to nod slightly before standing and stepping out of the room, calling for Poppy.

Severus barely had time to blink before the medi-witch bustled into the room and started fussing over Harry, but she had barely been looking him over for a minute before a small surge of power knocked her away from him. Had Severus not been standing where he had been he was sure the little woman would have landed flat on her backside.

"Get away from me!" Harry snapped out, his face distorted in a silent rage.

"Mister Potter I would suggest letting Madame Pomfrey do her job or else I'll start knocking points!" Severus barked out at him. At this Harry's face slowly slackened and he turned his head away from the two of them as the power level dropped again allowing Poppy access to him again.

As Poppy drew close to him again Harry turned his head away from the two of them. He couldn't see them true but he could still feel their stares. Severus continued to watch the teen with a thoughtful expression on his face until he remembered why he was there in the first place.

_**flashback to earlier that morning**_

"_**Honestly Albus, he sprung right up and started shouting, but when I referred to it moments later, he didn't seem to remember ever doing it." Severus said with a frown.**_

"_**Hmm… now that is indeed a bit strange, but it may also help us out." Albus commented more to himself than Severus.**_

_**The Potions Master found himself looking at the Headmaster curiously for a moment before Albus suddenly stood and moved towards one of his many book shelves. Albus then turned and glanced at Severus again for a moment.**_

"_**Severus, when Harry wakes, please bring him here, I've already sent for Sirius and Remus." He said with a slightly dismissive wave of his hand.**_

"_**You know something don't you Albus?" Severus found himself asking.**_

"_**I might my boy, but I won't know for sure until I do a bit of reading." He said before motioning towards the door again. Severus took the hint this time and headed out back towards the Dungeons.**_

_**end flashback**_

"Potter, once you're cleared by Poppy, the Headmaster wishes to see you in his office." He said simply. At the face Harry pulled at his words Severus spoke again before the younger man could snap. "I will be escorting you there." He added.

"Fine." Harry snapped out. Severus almost sighed aloud, but managed to keep it internal. He wanted nothing more that to help the teen, but it was obvious to him at this point that Harry wasn't going to make it easy.

"Tone Potter!" Severus snapped back at him finally.

At the sound of his snarky Potions Master reemerging from Severus, Harry turned his head in the older man's direction, blinked once or twice slowly and then nodded in response.

"Yes sir." He whispered out while waiting for Poppy to finish with him.

After what seemed like forever to Harry and Severus both, Poppy finally took a step back from the teen and put her wand away before taking a few steps more away from him. She then glanced to Severus and gave a slight nod.

"All right Mister Potter you're body still has a bruise here and there, but they should be all healed up by no later than the end of the day." She explained. "And with that, he's all yours Severus." She said to the Potions Master.

At her words Harry found himself frowning slightly and his thoughts turned troubled. _If only I was, but he wouldn't want me now. _the teen found himself thinking, then with a sharp jerk of his head he pushed the thought away. _Whoa, where did that come from?_ he wondered to himself. Severus noted that something puzzling must have been on the youths mind, because there was no other explanation for the various looks that crossed over his face.

_Wonder what's on his mind?_ Severus found himself wondering and for a moment he contemplated taking a peek, but then decided against it. _Caring is not your style Severus, knock it off!_ a voice snapped in his mind that sounded oddly like his father. Frowning slightly to himself he willed the voice away, when usually he'd listen to it. It had kept him alive this long, so who was he to question it now? He probably would have kept listening to it had it not been for the voice that sounded like his mother. The last time he had heard her voice; her real voice was when he was getting ready to turn eleven. He suddenly gave a small sigh, while pushing the thought from his mind.

Having successfully pushed his thoughts aside Severus moved towards Harry and took surprisingly gentle hold of the teen.

"All right Potter, come on up with you." He said, his tone staying stern, but not snippy the whole time. Harry couldn't help but be relieved that the man didn't seem to be baiting him anymore; he honestly didn't think he would be able to stand anymore.

Finally with a sigh Harry allowed himself to be helped up from the bed and didn't even bat an eyelash when Severus transfigured his hospital garments into trousers and a button-down shirt.

"Thanks." Harry found himself mumbling out to the older man.

Instead of a reply though, Severus simply grunted in return at the teen. Harry couldn't help but smirk at the mannerisms of his Potions Master and in that moment realized that he wouldn't change anything about the man. Harry honestly wasn't sure what he was feeling for the man that was leading him towards the Headmaster's office, but he hoped with the new situation they found themselves in of Harry having to stay with him that he would be able to figure it out in time.

As the two approached the Headmaster's office Severus muttered out the password causing the gargoyle to move aside and allow the two of them to pass. They finally headed into the office and even though Harry couldn't see it, he was sure that the Headmaster had the same annoying twinkle in his eyes that he usually did.

"Ah my boys, glad you could make it so soon, but you're a bit early, our other two guests haven't arrived yet." He said his tone sounding slightly amused, but with a hint of seriousness in it. Before Harry could even ask who was still on the way the sound of foot steps could be heard outside the door and when said door opened Albus quickly spoke again.

"Ah, Sirius and Remus, right on time as usual." Albus said smiling at the other two men that had just shown up. Harry didn't have to see to know that Sirius was glaring at Severus and Albus at the same time for having Severus in the room. Usually he probably would have laughed about it, but now he was starting to find the two men's behavior down right childish.

"What's that lot doing here Albus?" Sirius asked motioning towards Severus. Sirius was setting the bait, but to his surprise and disappointment, Severus didn't take it. Sirius didn't notice, but Remus did that Severus was studying Harry awfully close. Sirius on the other hand was just now taking notice to the fact that Harry was actually in the room.

"Harry what are you doing here? You didn't get yourself in trouble did you?" Sirius asked him. Harry turned his head from the direction of his godfather. Sirius took this as a bad sign and wondered if maybe he had carried a prank just a bit too far. "Harry look at me." he said some what harshly, and Harry shrunk down into the chair slightly.

Severus picked this up and a slight smirk crossed his face. He was relieved that Sirius hadn't noticed it, or he would have been all over him, and he wasn't very well in the mood for that, besides Sirius was probably going to be all over him anyway for what Albus had brought them there to tell them. So he did the only thing he could think of.

"You didn't tell them did you Potter?" Severus asked Harry, who's head snapped up in surprise by the question. Sirius shot Severus a look, and then turned back to Harry.

"Didn't tell me what exactly? What's this slime ball on about Harry?" Harry hung his head and mental cursed that man he had been musing about earlier. Something inside him was making this harder than it had to be, but he wasn't sure what it was. He almost wished Severus or Albus would just tell Sirius what was wrong, and he was about to get his wish.

"Harry please look at us, it can't be that bad." Remus spoke up softly from beside Sirius. If it were possible Harry's head would have hung even lower.

"That's just it Lupin he can't look at you" Severus hissed out in annoyance, and Sirius and Remus looked at him as if he were lying. "He's blind." he added with his voice not more than a whisper.

At this Sirius and Remus' attention snapped back to the younger man in the chair. Finally Harry raised his head and turned it back in their direction, his now blank eyes going to and fro, not exactly sure where the two were located. It was then that his two godparents realized that it was true, Harry was indeed blind. Sirius shook his head.

"You can't be, how did you write me that letter earlier in the year if you couldn't see what you were writing?" he asked, praying to himself that it was all some sort of cruel joke.

"I... I had Draco write it. I told him what to write, and he spelled his quill so it would look like my hand writing." Harry whispered out, not wanting to admit he had been hiding this from them.

"Why? Why didn't you tell us?" Sirius asked the hurt apparent in his voice. Harry frowned, but answered the question anyway, now feeling sorry that he hadn't told them sooner what had happened to him. Even with that feeling though, he still had no intention of telling them exactly what happened.

"I didn't want you to worry." Harry said after a minute with a small frown on his face.

"Harry, it's our job to worry." Remus said moving over near Harry and placing a hand on his shoulder. At this Albus cleared his throat and everyone turned in his direction.

"I am going to assume that if you are just now finding out about this, that young Harry here did not tell you how this happened or what had been happening before i-" he started. He didn't manage to finish his sentence as Harry was suddenly on his feet.

"NO! Stop! Don't say anymore, don't you dare! What's done is done." he said. Severus eyed him puzzled about why the boy had stopped Albus from telling them that it was Harry's own uncle that blinded him.

"Harry, please..." Albus started but Harry shook his head.

"They don't need to hear, no one else needs to know!" he shouted, Severus shot Albus a look that screamed if he was smart he would stop now and not anger Harry further, but the older man paid no mind to the warning look.

"I must tell them, it's for your own good Harry." Albus said softly before standing slowly himself. At this Harry's power went straight through the roof and Severus, Sirius, and Remus were all thrown back several feet from Harry, while Albus was brought down to one knee.

"For my own good? MY OWN GOOD?! What the hell would any of you know what's for my own good?! When have I ever been more than a pawn to you?!" he screamed out. The pure power he was radiating was causing even the previous headmasters in the portraits to take cover from the teen's anger.

Severus watched Harry carefully, and noticed that he looked faint. _Albus did this on purpose; he wanted Harry to get worked up, but why? Why would he possibly want to unleash this, this anger, and fury that Potter's got bottled up inside?_ He looked over at Albus then, who looked in thought about something. Sirius was pressed up against the wall, with Remus holding on to him, looking at his godson in what could only be described as fear. Severus was glad that Harry could not see the expression on the other's face, because it would have probably broken his heart. Suddenly the wind that Harry had filled the room with stopped, and Harry turned his head in his godfathers direction.

"I... I'm sorry." he said softly before collapsing to the ground. Sirius and Remus were by his side quickly. Albus came over to Harry and looked at him for a minute before moving him to the small sofa.

"He's only tired, leave him be for a moment." Sirius snapped his head up and looked at the older man as if he'd gone crazy.

"What in the bloody hell was that all about Albus?!" He demanded. Albus looked at him seriously for a moment.

"That my dear boy was probably only a quarter of the magic your godson here keeps hidden. I do believe that Severus here had experienced a version far worse only a few days ago in Gryffindor Tower." he said looking at Severus with a grim expression.

"Albus what was the point of that?" Severus asked finally not understanding the older man's intentions with that little display. Some of the twinkle returned to Albus's eyes rather quickly at the question.

"The point was to show Sirius and Remus why I think Harry should stay with you over the holidays as we had discussed earlier." Albus said. At this Sirius jumped up.

"WHAT? You want my godson to stay with... with... HIM?!" he yelled pointing at Severus who glared at him. Having already agreed to keep Harry over the holidays Severus found no reason to get upset about it anymore.

"Why not Black? Afraid I'll actually help him build an IQ higher than that of a bowl of kibble?" he sneered at the other man.

"I will not have him staying with a murderer!" Sirius roared while glaring at both Albus and Severus.

"Sirius, you and Remus can't possibly handle Harry if he goes into another rage, even one smaller than that is probably more than you can handle right now, he could possibly hurt or kill you both." Albus said trying to defend his plan. "Also I would appreciate it if you would refrain from calling my nephew a murderer." The older wizard said with a slight frown.

At this bit of information both Remus and Sirius looked at Albus in surprise. It was not a widely known fact that the Snapes and the Dumbledores were related, and to be honest both families liked it that was just fine. Sirius opened his mouth to obviously object again, but Albus held up a hand.

"Gentlemen, this has already been worked out by Severus and I, also young Harry already knows what we have planned. So I would like if we could simply end the arguing now." Albus added his voice and tone leaving no room for argument from any of the other men present.

Sirius opened his mouth for a moment but closed it quickly after both Albus and Remus leveled him with a look that more or less told him to keep his mouth shut. The frown on his face spoke volumes and Severus had the feeling that he personally hadn't heard the last of the complaining from the mutt. He was prepared for that, he was use to it in fact, but he wasn't prepared for what Albus said next.

"Now I see no reason why the two of you couldn't go and spend the day with Harry on Christmas Day, with Severus's approval of course." Albus added, his eyes twinkling madly. At this Severus about sputtered but both Remus and Sirius looked at him suddenly with semi hopeful expressions and he sighed.

"Of course, I wouldn't keep Potter from spending the day with his family." He said simply and dryly keeping his emotions from his voice. He didn't want either of the Lupin-Black's catching on, but Remus's nose had been on overdrive since he had walked into the office minutes before.

"If you already had it all planned out than what the hell did you need the two of us to come in for?" Sirius snapped out at the other two men.

"Sirius please, we're only doing what we think is best for Harry." Albus said, _and what's best for Severus too._ He added as a thought to himself. There was a long moment of silence after this before finally Sirius sighed and nodded his head slightly.

"All right fine, but if I get one upset owl from Harry, we're taking him!" He snapped out quickly with a look that said he wouldn't be told otherwise.

"Of course Sirius, I wouldn't dream of keeping Harry anywhere he was unhappy, not again at least." He said knowing full well they everyone in the room knew that Harry had been unhappy at the Dursley's even before they knew about the beatings.

"Albus," Severus started. "Did you find anything in your books?" he asked thoughtfully knowing he wasn't the only one probably wanting to know what exactly was going on with Harry.

"I did indeed Severus, our young Harry is showing every sign of being a Rage." At what he said Severus's eyes went wide, while Remus took on a knowing look, and poor Sirius just looked confused. "A Rage, Sirius is a type of wizard, their power is fueled by their emotions and they were thought to be dying breed. While I never mentioned it to anyone I had often wondered if Lily had been one." Albus said thoughtfully.

At this Sirius and Remus both raised a brow while Severus slipped his cool seemingly uncaring mask back into place as the topic of conversation turned towards a sore spot in his past.

"Why is that Albus?" Remus found himself asking when no one else said anything.

"It's the only way to explain how she could perform a love spell on Harry in only a matter of seconds, when it would take even a very strong wizard quite sometime to pull it off properly." Albus explained, all the while nodding to himself at the idea.

At his explanation Remus and Sirius both nodded before a stirring sound coming from the couch caught their attention. They all looked quickly to see Harry slowly trying to move himself into a sitting position. Once he sat back up Sirius let out a small sigh of his own.

"Gave us a scare there Harry." He said trying to keep his voice light and even.

"What happened?" Harry found himself asking as he rubbed his head slowly wondering why he suddenly had a pounding headache.

At the question Albus and the other went about filling Harry in on what had happened and about what Harry might actually be and neither bit of news went over well with the younger man. Both times he had been brought to the verge of having another explosion of magic, when Albus managed to slowly calm him down. Finally with a sigh Harry slouched slightly and frowned a bit until finally Severus moved over to where he was sitting.

"I'm sure you will no doubt spend the rest of the evening with your _godparents_," Severus sneered at the word and said it as though it left a bad taste in his mouth. "But I will not tolerate you holding up my plans; we will discuss the holiday arrangements tomorrow after your Potions lesson." He bit out. At this Harry looked surprised. "Don't look so shocked Potter, you've been out for three days, what did you think time was going to stop for you? The holidays start in two days." He bit out before turning and heading out of the headmaster's office.

Once he was gone Harry found himself sighing again slightly before attempting to sink further into the couch. _Why do I get the feeling it's going to be a terrible holiday? _Harry found himself thinking as he heard the sound of the stone steps grinding their way along outside the office.

* * *

SerChan: Seems like a good place to end this chapter no?

Yami Ser: (nods) Yeah, all right let's go get chapter 9 started!

SerChan: (frowns) Don't wanna.

Harry: Tough! Everyone else, please R R!


	9. Home for the Holidays?

SerChan: I feel I owe you all a huge apology for leaving you all hanging for so long! A case or writer's block, a move, a crashed computer and lack of net were all contributing factors to me being MIA and for those of you that have been waiting for this, here it is Chapter 9!

Yami Ser: Disclaimers? See previous chapters. Also spelling, grammar and such will be fixed at a later time, take it for what it is right now.

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Darkness – Chapter 9 – Home for the Holidays?

The rest of the afternoon from the day before had passed by slowly for Harry as he spent time with Sirius and Remus, it being more than obvious to him that they wanted to ask him what had happed, but they didn't need to know that as far as Harry was concerned, so the topic was danced around many times. Honestly, Harry didn't feel like anyone needed to know what had happened to him, he just didn't see how it was anyone's problem but his own or anyone's business for that matter. Sighing slightly he lifted his chin a bit as he received a tap from Draco who was currently doing up his tie for him. This was how all his days began usually either Draco or Ron would help him get dressed while talking to him about the day ahead, but today was different even though Draco was talking to him Harry said little to nothing in response, still milling over the afternoon before in his head.

Harry was certainly not looking forward to his meeting with Severus later on that afternoon but he wasn't as bothered as he had been about it once he found out that Draco would be attending it with him. He'd found out from said Slytherin that he and his father would both be spending the holidays with him and Severus which Harry didn't really mind, the more people that were there the less likely Severus was to kill him right? Or at least that's what he liked to keep telling himself about the whole thing.

"Harry, are you all right mate?" He heard Draco ask him lightly. At the question Harry found himself nodding his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just I guess I'm not looking forward to the meeting with Snape later on is all." He said simply.

"So that's what's on your mind. Try not to think on it to much Harry; it will be fine I'm sure." The blond said trying to reassure Harry though he honestly wasn't sure what it was that Severus had wanted to talk to them about in the first place.

"I'm sure you're probably right, as usual Dra." Harry said with a small sigh escaping from him once more as Draco handed him his books and took hold of his arm.

"Of course I am." Draco said with a small smug look, though it was all in fun. "Now come on Ron already headed down to the Hall to get us a table, though I'm sure Hermione beat him to it by at least a half an hour." Draco said with a laugh at the mental image his mind brought up of a crestfallen Ron arriving at the hall only to see Hermione already sitting there.

"Well if he headed down before us I guess all we can do it hope that he hasn't eaten everything in sight yet." Harry added with a dry laugh of his own.

With that being said the two headed down to the Great Hall with Draco leading Harry along much to the annoyance of the raven haired young man hating the fact that he couldn't yet make it there on his own without the aid of a spell of help from someone else. That was something that had been on his mind. Severus had agreed to help him learn to deal with being blind but the two of them had yet to do any work together as far as that was concerned, which all in all left Harry confused. As the thought crossed his mind he found himself wondering if that's what this little meeting was about for a moment, but quickly brushed that thought aside, because that was certainly not something that Draco would have to be there for.

As they reached the Great Hall the two headed in and took their usual seats with Ron and Hermione before the red head went about filling Harry's plate with the various breakfast foods that were on the table, while telling him where he was putting the food at on his plate. Harry seemed grateful for the help as always, but the other three were no idiots, they knew that having to rely on them and others was driving the raven-haired teen crazy. They had tried to broach the subject once with Harry but that resulted in several scared first years and many broken windows, which quickly corrected themselves. So the subject was never brought up again to Harry directly but that didn't stop the other teens from trying to figure out a way to help their friend out.

Breakfast passed quickly and for the most part quietly as Harry wasn't feeling very chatty and the feeling simply radiated from him at the moment so the other thought it better to leave him be, at least for the time being. Harry was silently thankful for them picking up on his odd mood and for the most part leaving him be. He wasn't sure what was causing the mood, but his upcoming meeting about the holidays wasn't helping any. Nor did it help any that classes seemed to pass quicker than normal for him that day. Sooner than he had expected, or wanted, he wasn't to sure at that point; Draco popped into the Gryffindor Common Room to pick Harry up before they headed to Severus' office.

"I somehow get the feeling that this meeting isn't going to be pleasant." Harry mused aloud as the two of them carefully walked down the many stairs to the dungeons.

"Well if you take the attitude that you've been wallowing in all day in there, I'm sure it won't be." Draco said dryly. He wasn't one to usually let Harry get away with things so Harry had honestly just been waiting for this conversation to take place since breakfast earlier that morning.

"Believe me after the last meeting I was at that Snape was involved in, my attitude will probably seem like a damn ray of sunshine." Harry said with a snort.

"What did happen? You never told any of us and I know you weren't paying attention this morning, but Hermione did ask you about it." The blond said coolly.

"It was-- nothing, don't worry about it." Harry responded icily. Draco stared at the other teen as they continued on their way but didn't say anything else about it. It was more then obvious that something went on that Harry either couldn't handle right then or would rather not remember.

"Forget it then Harry, whatever happened, it's over." Draco supplied simply as the two approached the office that they had both been dreading in some way or another.

"If only it were that simple Dray." Harry said dryly with a small swallow. Could he really just forget? What they knew… Albus and Severus both, what they had almost told Sirius and Remus. How would he have been able to face the other two men if they knew? It was bad enough that Severus of all people knew and that Albus knew now as well. The thoughts continued to plague Harry as he and Draco were admitted into the office without him even realizing it.

"Mister Potter!" The raised voice finally snapped him from his thoughts and it was then that he finally noticed that he was sitting down and by the smell he was in Severus' office.

"Sir?" Harry asked slowly trying not to seem as if he had been paying at least some attention to what had been being said around him.

"Now that I have your attention." Severus snapped slightly. "We will be going to the Snape family home for Christmas. Draco, Lucius is already there he arrived earlier this morning." Severus said simply.

"Thank Merlin!" Draco said quickly. He'd secretly been worrying about his father for a time not having received word from him because they both knew that Draco's mail was being watched. By who though, they weren't sure yet and Albus was not being very forth coming with ideas, though that wasn't unusual for the man.

"Indeed. Now I know that you and Mister Potter wish to be spending the holidays elsewhere but know that exceptions have been made. Mister Weasley, Miss Granger and Lupin and Black will all be welcome to join you for the holidays. The Manor wards have already been set to allow them access should they wish to come." Snape said dryly.

"This is awfully good of you sir." Harry finally spoke up about all of this.

"I assure you Mister Potter that this is mostly Albus' doing, not mine. Do not make the mistake of thinking I've changed for the holidays." Severus snipped with a slightly sneering tone to his voice.

"No, I imagine that would be hoping for to much sir." Harry muttered out softly with a slightly down tone. It confused Severus but made Draco simply raise a brow and look at the other teen carefully for a moment before turning his attention back to the Professor.

"Forgive me sir but is this all you wanted us for?" Draco asked turning his raised brow towards the older man.

"No Mister Malfoy it is not. Since you will both be staying in my care over the holidays there are some rules I will expect you to keep in mind while you are in my home." Severus started. "First you two are to stay indoors. As I said the Manor is warded but I do not think it wise to take any unnecessary chances." He said fixing his gaze on Harry as he did so. Even though he couldn't see it Harry could feel the heavy gaze and couldn't help but scowl slightly.

"I'm blind sir, not stupid. I know that going out would be foolish no matter how much I miss being outdoors, there isn't really much I could do outside now is there?" Harry hissed in annoyance.

"Mister Potter there is far more to the outdoors then being able to fly, perhaps in time you will learn that, but as I saying, I'd prefer you both stay in. If you must go out though you will do so with either myself or Lucius present." Severus continued on while making a mental note of what Harry had said. "Secondly I will not have the two of you up wondering at all hours of the night, though I really needn't be to detailed on that must I?" He asked the two while they simply shook their heads. "Good, I have nothing else to say then. The two of you will meet me here tomorrow at noon and we will leave. Do not be late." He said simply before waving a dismissive hand at them.

Draco took hold of Harry's arm and quickly led the other teen from the room before the older man could change his mind about the number of rules in place or before he had a chance to pick a fight with the dark haired teen as he seemed so prone to do.

"Well that went better then expected huh?" Draco finally asked as the two of them rounded the corner. At his question Harry made a slightly huffing sound and crossed his arms in front of himself.

"If you say so." Harry said flatly. "I just don't get why he seems to think I'm going to go out looking for trouble in this bloody condition?!" Harry hissed while scowling darkly. He simply couldn't stand the fact that Severus seemed to still think so little of him. He couldn't quite tell why but it irked him more then anything else at the moment.

"You do have to admit that trouble seems to find you no matter what condition you're in mate or what precautions everyone seems to take to protect you." Draco pointed out as the two of them continued on their way back to the Gryffindor dorms to get Harry's things. Draco had already packed his belongs for the holidays but he knew for a fact that Harry hadn't a chance to do so himself yet. Judging by the time, Ron and Hermione would still be in Hogsmeade with the rest of the class and still wouldn't be back for at least another hour or so which would give the two of them plenty of time to get Harry's things packed without Ron nagging the two of them. As much as he loved him Draco would never deny the fact that Ron was a complete nag when it came to things involving Snape.

It angered the blond at times, the things Ron would say about his godfather, but that was a rumor that many didn't realize was true and Ron happened to be one of them. He never corrected the red-head and really had no plans to unless what he sensed about Harry's outlook towards Severus panned out to be true, though it was just a feeling right now and one that could be completely unfounded, but Draco's senses on these matters was rarely false. He smirked slightly to himself as he and Harry continued up the last few stairs, Harry having ranted about Severus the whole trip back to the dorms and as they headed up the steps to the seventh year dorms Draco finally couldn't hold back any longer and let out a low chuckle.

"Honestly Harry I've never heard you talk about someone so much even if you are ranting." He said with a laugh. Harry simply made a face at the blond but said nothing else even as his cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink causing the Slytherin to burst out laughing once again.

"Oh shut up Draco and help me pack!" Harry finally snapped crossing his arms once again, a stance that was become a regular one for him these days.

"All right, all right, now what do you want to bring with you?" Draco asked as he popped Harry's trunk open and sliding open the draws where the other teen's clothes were folded neatly compliments of the house elves.

With that statement the two spent the better part of the next hour packing up what Harry wanted to take and what he needed to take for over the holiday break. The two had just finished up and were lounging on Harry's bed when Ron came bounding through the door.

"Oi what's this? I leave the two of you alone for the afternoon and you're putting moves on each other." Ron said with a laugh before tackling the both of them. From the doorway Hermione shook her head slightly at the three laughing teens while laughing lightly herself.

"Men." She said with a small laugh. "I'll see you all at dinner." She said simply before taking her leave of the three wanting to put the presents she had bought away in her trunk before the evening meal started. The three watched her go for a moment before Ron climbed back off the bed and went to put away his own purchases.

Dinner came and went with much amusement on all counts, Ron telling them about Hermione's fun little run in with Pansy in Hogsmeade. It turned out that the Slytherin decided that it would be fun to try and start something with the two Gryffindors having obviously learned nothing from Draco's tale of being socked by the girl a few years early. So now in the Great Hall Pansy sat sporting a shiny new black eye. The group had laughed and simply enjoyed each others company for the remainder of the evening before they all retired to their separate rooms and beds for the night.

Harry woke the next morning to the warm feeling of the sun on his face and stirred slightly with a sigh. He honestly didn't want to get up, getting out of bed would mean the day moving on, which would mean leaving the school and going home with Severus. As much as the thought had a faint ring to it in some strange way to the teen he wasn't completely comfortable with the thought. He rolled over in bed and attempted to pull the blanket back up over his face only to feel it being tugged down from the other end.

"I know you're awake mate." He heard Ron say with a laugh. Harry just grumbled at his friend for a moment before he sat up slowly which caused Ron to burst into all out laughter. "Cor, Harry, your hair!" Ron choked out between giggles. Harry scowled for a moment before reaching up to his head and finally feeling what it was that Ron was laughing at, all of his hair on one side of his head seemed to be sticking straight up into the air.

"All right, just fix it." Harry muttered out before Ron made his way over with brush in hand before attempting to tackle the terrifying mop that Harry dared call hair. Ron honestly wondered just what it was really made out of because it was constantly determined to be messy no matter what they did with it.

So twenty minutes later there they were still trying to tame the section of hair down when Draco and Hermione came in the room to find them still fighting with the dreaded mass. The blond and brunette shared a look before Hermione rolled her eyes before she walked over to the other two. She pushed Ron out of the way before taking the brush and muttering a quick spell and tapping the brush with her wand. She then started to run it through Harry's hair and to Ron's surprise the usually untamable mass started to smooth down, it wasn't much neater then it usually was but at least it wasn't sticking straight up anymore.

"See that wasn't so hard now was it?" Hermione asked while flashing Ron a cheeky grin. Harry just laughed a bit at his friends before he was tossed his clothes by Draco. Hermione put a hand on his arm but Harry shrugged it off as he realized that Draco had tossed him a sweater and jeans.

"Let me try." He said simply before feeling along the collar of the sweater looking for the tag before turning it around and slipping it on over his head. The jeans were simple enough to get one and once he was done Hermione and the others couldn't help but smile at him even though he couldn't see it.

Harry was feeling rather pleased with himself as the group of them headed down for an early lunch having slept through breakfast, well Hermione hadn't of course, before they headed out to one of the courtyards. They found and empty bench and the four sat down and began discussing their plans for over the holidays, or at least the plans that they could be sure of.

"So will you two come?" Harry asked slowly. He didn't need to be anymore specific then that for Ron and Hermione.

"I'll be there for sure, even if I need that have Fred and George smuggle me there in a box." Ron said with a laugh from where he sat with Draco plastered up against his side. His comment earned him a slight smirk and laugh from Harry and a kiss to his jaw from Draco.

"Ever my brave lion, willing to risk life and limb going up against your mum." Draco said with a laugh with earned him a mock glare and a cry of "Oi!" from the red head.

"I don't know if I'll be able to make it, I'll be spending a good deal of the holiday with my parents of course but I'll also be spending some time with Viktor and his family." Hermione said. She then paused for a moment obviously lost in thought for a moment. "Though perhaps if Professor Snape would agree to it I could bring Viktor along and we could come spend a day with you." She said brightly which caused Harry to groan.

"I don't even want to think about asking for a favor like that." He all but whined out. This got a laugh from the other three which caused Harry to scowl at them for a moment before he broke into a grin himself.

The three continued on with their talk and playful banter until Draco noticed the time and stood up after giving Ron a kiss the shocked the red head into silence for a long moment.

"I hate to put a damped on things, but we have to go Harry." He said. Harry sighed but nodded before standing up slowly and finding him self pulled into a hug by Hermione.

"Try to enjoy yourself." She said softly before patting down his hair once more. Harry merely scoffed a bit but nodded his head again.

"I'll try, but I make no promises." He said with a dry laugh. And with that being said hugs and kissed were exchanged before Draco took hold of Harry's arm and the two of them made their way back into the school and down to the Dungeons.

As they approached Severus' office the door swung open allowing them entry and Severus looked up from the paperwork he was finishing up. He glanced at the time and the back to the two with a raised brow.

"You're on time, I'm impressed." He said simply. "If your belongings are packed and ready I will have them transported to the Manor via house elf." Draco and Harry both nodded. "Draco, take that book there, tap it and say Snape Manor, I need to have a word with Mister Potter, we'll be along shortly." Severus said simply. Draco merely nodded and did as he was told before disappearing from the room quickly.

With Draco gone Harry shifted from foot to foot as he waited for Severus to say whatever it was he had to say before they left the school. Severus leaned back in his chair for a moment and studied the troubled teen while choosing his words carefully; he didn't need another demonstration of the teen's new found power so soon.

"Do you still wish my help Potter?" He asked simply. A surprised look crossed Harry's face for a moment but he nodded his head slowly. He had been starting to think that Severus had forgotten about his request. "Then we will work on it over the course of the holiday." The man said simply before standing up and moving to where Harry stood. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder before muttering a quick "Snape Manor" himself.

The last thing Harry did before the feeling of the ground dropping out from under him over took him was send out a silent plea that he would actually make it though the holiday without he and Severus trying to kill each other.

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There it is, a little shorter then I wanted but the next one will be longer, promise! I will try my best to have it up for you no later then 5/1/10!


	10. The Trip That Started It All

Sorry for the delay folks. A lot has happened in the vicious real world and pushed back my writing time and I think someone shot my muse but it is slowly coming out of the coma. Anyway, here it is in all its bad grammar glory. Chapter 10! Disclaimers and such see Chapter 1. Also as always I'm still looking for a beta if anyone is interested just drop me a message.

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Darkness – Chapter 10 – The Trip That Started It All

The port key was just as unpleasant as Harry remembered it to be, he had a feeling in the back of his mind that he would in fact always hate them as they always seemed to be taking him somewhere bad, even if they weren't suppose to be. He realized though once the sickening waves stopped crashing over him that he was back on solid ground and he honestly had no doubts that he would've in fact been ass first on the ground if Severus hadn't taken such a firm hold of him.

"Are you all right Harry?" He heard Draco ask pulling him from his muddled thoughts. Harry turned his head in the direction of the voice and nodded slowly. "You sure? You're looking a little pale." Draco asked while moving forward to wrap an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Yeah Dray, it's just, you know me and port keys don't mix." He said with a weak laugh, trying to just brush it off and attempt to focus on his surroundings.

"Draco, take Potter down the last room on the right on this floor, I dare say we could do without him taking a header down the stairs in the middle of the night." Severus said dryly before turning and sweeping up the stairs, no doubt to his own room to get settled in himself.

Rather then snap with his usual retort though Harry merely rolled his unseeing eyes and allowed himself to be lead down the hall by his friend who prattled on about this, that and the other thing, explaining all sorts of tid-bits and such about the Manor. Harry listened with half an ear mostly because he was tired and because surprisingly much of what Draco had to say about the place was rather interesting. Harry made a mental note to ask Draco to repeat everything that he'd just told him when he wasn't dead on his feet. It seemed that being scared senseless over a port key could take a lot out of a person.

Draco took note of the drained expression that Harry wore and helped his friend settle in and get comfortable before getting him into bed. Sure enough Harry gave little protest as the blond covered him with the blankets.

"Don't worry, he'll come around eventually." Draco said simply, having recognized the way Harry let himself get riled up by Severus as the same way that Draco use to allow himself to get riled up by Ron.

"At the rate he's going it will be well after I'm dead and buried." Harry grumbled before a yawn escaped him. Draco merely shook his head, though he knew it was to himself.

"Get some sleep Harry; I'll come get you for dinner." He said with a faint hint of humor in his voice.

Elsewhere in the manor Severus found himself pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace in his room with a scowl firmly on his face. To say that he was happy that Harry was there in his home would have been the lie of the century. He was only just starting to see the young man in a different light, or rather realize that he felt something for him and then Albus had to go and trust him into his life outside of Hogwarts. He had stopped pacing and was simply glaring into the fire when Lucius finally found him.

"You know the fire will not do any tricks if you keep glaring at it light that." The blond said with a deep chuckle. Severus looked up for a moment and merely grunted at his long time friend before looking back at the fireplace once more. "Musing over your new house guest I take it?" Again all he got was a grunt in response. "I thought as much. You know Severus if you're ever going to win Potter's affection you're going to have to be far more pleasant with him." He stated simply as if he were commenting on the weather.

"Don't you think I know that? It's just that…" Severus trailed off when he realized what it was that Lucius had said and what he had been about to say and looked at the blond with wide eyes. Had he really just been thinking about Harry like that? At the expression on his friend's face Lucius couldn't help but laugh.

"Severus I've known you for a long time and you've never shown half the emotion you do except where Potter is concerned, even the emotion you showed for his mother pales in comparison." He pointed out. Severus knew he was right, realizing what it was the young man had been through had only pushed his feelings closer to the surface, but that didn't mean that he had to admit that Lucius was right to anyone, least of all the smug blond himself. "Even if mostly you're expressing annoyance." The elder Malfoy added as an afterthought which earned him a scowl.

"For once Lucius you seem to have a point, but nothing good could come of it anyway, he is still a student and…" He was cut off when Lucius raised a hand.

"You know as well as I do that Hogwarts has no rules against Professors and students of legal age having a relationship." He said with smirk that was annoying enough to rival the damn twinkle in Albus' eyes.

"Be that as it may it doesn't change the fact that I'm a Death Eater and he's the bloody Boy-Who-Lived." Severus hissed out in annoyance.

"You _were_ a Death Eater and now you're a _spy_ helping him in his efforts to fight that crazy bastard." Lucius pointed out quickly. Personally Lucius didn't care who his friend ended up with he just wanted to see the blasted man happy for once in his life.

"He would never feel that way Lucius so to think on it is just a waste of time." Severus finally said seeming to resign himself to losing the argument with the other man for a change. At this Lucius merely shook his head.

"Just promise me you won't fight it if something does happen my friend." He said in all seriousness. Severus looked at him for a moment trying to figure out if his friend had gone crazy but finally nodded his head. He did with the thought that his life was already going to hell, so why not enjoy the ride there?

After the delightful conversation the two then went about catching up on their daily comings and goings, neither noticing the other blond that was plastered outside the door with a gleeful little smirk on his face.

Quietly making his way back down the hall and to his own room Draco rubbed his hands together once he was inside and alone. _* Severus and Harry, now there's a match if I ever saw one.*_ He found himself thinking as he flopped down on his own bed. There was no doubt in his mind that Ron would kill him for a what he was plotting but he decided to worry about that later.

_Not again, please not again. Harry thought to himself as he once again found himself running through the trees. Unlike last time he was able to make out a bit more than before and came to realize that he was running through the Forbidden Forest. He could only assume that it was where he had been the first time as well. His vision was no where near 100% but it was better than it had been in the last dream which had been nothing. He took deep ragged breathes as he ran, not knowing what or who he was running from but occasionally fire curses over his shoulder. He was suddenly tackled to the ground and was hit with a wave of panic thinking that it somehow was Vernon until the owner of the voice spoke._

"_Stay down Harry." The voice whispered in a his ear and Harry could feel himself relaxing right away._

"_Severus…" He heard himself whispering out and he was surprised by the urge to reach up and brush back the man's hair from his face but even as he did it he couldn't imagine anything that felt more natural to him._

"_I know love, just for the love of Merlin, stay here." He said suddenly before leaning down and giving Harry a quick kiss and jumping up. Harry reached out to him but the man gave him one last look before rushing away. In the distance Harry could then hear voices._

"_Well Ssseverusss, have you decided to return to your massster?" Harry could hear Voldemort hiss out. _

"_Of course not you blithering idiot!" He heard the other man snap back, struggling to his feet Harry started in the direction that the voices were coming from when he heard something that made his blood run cold._

"_Hold him." The snake faced man hissed out, Harry could hear struggling, no doubt Severus trying to get free. "Avada Kedavra." Harry collapsed to his knees at the words and could feel his magic clawing to get out. _

"SEVERUS!" Harry screamed out as a surge of magic, that put those in the castle to shame, escaped from his body, bowing the walls, blowing out the windows and busting the door from its hinges.

At the sound of his name being screamed Severus' head snapped up from where was still conversing with Lucius and the two jumped up before running out into the hall, almost running smack into Draco who was also heading down towards the source of the scream. As the three ran to the room Draco and Lucius found themselves thrown back up against the wall causing Severus to stop and approach with a bit more caution, to this surprise though the wave of power didn't feel threatening, in fact it felt more like the magic was trying to wrap around him, protect him even, but from what he wasn't sure.

"Sev…" Harry sobbed out in his sleep clutching at his pillow and the sight nearly broke the potion master's heart. The young man sounded so broken and worn down. Reaching out to him slowly he placed a hand gently on the young man's forehead.

"Harry, Harry wake up." He said sternly but the tone lacked any of its usual bite. "Harry please." He whispered out leaning down to speak directly into the teen's ear. This caused a small sigh to escape from Harry as he seemed to lean closer to the man. Severus watched as the younger man slowly started to stir and then began to blink a bit, seeming to show none of the usual drain.

"Sev, what happened?" He asked with a yawn escaping from him. At the nickname Severus looked at the teen in confusion and as the swell of power slowly started to die down Draco and Lucius were finally able to step foot into the room.

"Sev is it?" Lucius asked with a small smirk playing on his lips. At the question Harry's eyes widened as he turned a brilliant shade of pink.

"Sorry sir." He mumbled out to Severus who shot Lucius a withering look that would have sent most first years running for their common rooms in terror.

"Think nothing of it Potter. Are you all right?" He asked turning his attention back to Harry and ignoring both Lucius and the annoying little voice in the back of his head that told him that he should be crawling in bed with young Gryffindor.

"I don't know sir. It started out like a nightmare that I'd had before but then it turned in to something else completely, but it ended the same way." He said, his grip on Severus' arm tightening slightly without him even realizing it. Severus however did and looked at Harry with a questioning expression on his face even though the other couldn't see it.

"Was it the same one you had that night in the tower?" Severus asked finding himself rather curious about the nightmare in question not only because it seemed to be continuously plaguing Harry but because whatever it was had him screaming for him.

"Yes sir." Harry mumbled out turning an even darker shade of pink than he had already been.

"Merlin Harry, you're starting to rival Ron, if your face gets any pinker it'll turn your hair red!" Draco said with a snicker which in turn led Lucius to laugh as well at the ebony haired teen's expense.

"Don't the two of you have some catching up to do?" Severus asked from between clenched teeth as he glared at the two of them. The two blondes merely snickered again at the potions professor before turning and heading back out of the room. "Now Potter why don't you explain this dream of yours to me." He said shifting a bit where he sat so that he was in a slightly more comfortable position.

"It's… it's nothing sir, just a nightmare." Harry said, once again going red in the face as he spoke.

"Potter on two occasions now you have unleashed holy hell with your power while screaming out my first name which I have never given you permission to use, I think that this goes beyond 'just a nightmare' don't you?" Severus asked raising a brow and wishing more than anything that Harry was able to see the expression on his face.

"Yes sir, I suppose you're right." Harry said with a small sigh, "But I can tell you right now, you're not going to like it in the least." He added before turning red again before retelling both dreams to the Professor. As he finished Severus sat there stunned. For once he honestly couldn't piece a clear thought together and jumped to his feet before hurrying from the room and away from the temptation that was Harry Potter.

"Professor!" Harry yelled out trying to get the man to come back to the room after he'd realized that he'd run off and when he didn't return he couldn't stop the overwhelming sense of sadness that washed over him. _*I can't blame him for reacting like that, who would want a filthy thing like me touching them?* _He thought sadly. He couldn't even recall when it was that he started crying. He did jump slightly when someone gently dabbed at his face.

"Honestly Potter, someone runs away and you fall to pieces, Draco left me with the impression that you were stronger then that." Lucius said simply. Harry looked slightly startled for a moment before he seemed to relax in the man's presence and Lucius applauded himself. "Don't let Severus fool you Potter, he's just as scared as you are about all of this." He said simply.

"I don't even know what this is!" Harry wailed suddenly. "One minute I hate the man, the next I think he's hot but still a prick and then I have a few dreams and suddenly I want him to shag me senseless." He finished with a huff before smacking himself in the forehead. "And I can't believe I just told you all that!" He shrieked out.

Lucius merely chuckled at the teen before shaking his head slightly. "Despite our previous meetings Potter I'm not exactly the bastard I pretended to be, in fact Draco often tells me that should I be so inclined that I would make an excellent therapist." He said simply with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah you could be, if you stop sounding like a smirking prat and actually call people by their first names." Harry said with a roll of his blank eyes. Lucius let out a small snort at this which caused Harry to chuckle, suddenly realizing where it was that Draco got his sense of humor from.

"Come now P… Harry I'm sure dinner is ready and it will take us a minute to get to the dinning room." Lucius said standing and taking a gentle hold of Harry's arm. Harry merely nodded at this and allowed himself to be lead from the room by someone he once thought he hated.

Back in his own rooms Severus was having a rather heated conversation with Albus who he'd fire called as soon as he had escaped to his rooms. The elderly wizard listened intently as Severus told him about Harry's latest power explosion as well as the dreams that the teen had been having and as always Albus seemed to be taking it all in stride.

"Well my dear boy it seems that Harry as well as his powers have grown quite attached to you." He said with a chuckle that was working on Severus's last nerve. "It should hopefully make helping him a little easier for the both of you." The older wizard went on to add, when Severus opened his mouth to object though Albus quickly cut him off. "Severus he needs someone, someone who is only interested in his well being for a change and not what it is they can use him for." He added in a solemn voice that floored Severus, as it wasn't often that you would hear Albus admitting to faults in his character, even in the roundabout way that he was doing so.

"Why bloody me Albus? Surely there is someone closer to his own age that he can anchor himself to." He said with a huff while scowling at the fireplace.

"I couldn't tell you why Severus, it is not for any of us to decide who we are attracted too and by the sound of it Harry's power is taking the decision out of his hands. Though it seems you made the decision all on your own." Albus with what Severus could only describe as amusement in his tone. "Take care of him Severus, he may surprise you." And with that the older wizard's image disappeared from the fire leaving Severus alone and beyond annoyed.

Glaring at the fireplace for a moment longer Severus went to his trunk and quickly pulled out Harry's journal, deciding that it would be the last time he would rely on the thing for insight into the young man's mind. He flipped through a few pages and hadn't found anything helpful so with a sigh he pulled out his wand and tapped the cover.

"Locus Severus Snape." He said simply and no sooner had the words left his mouth did the pages of the journal start flipping. Severus only allowed himself to skim the lines though for the information that he was seeking.

"**_Snape was a right bloody bastard today…"_**

"_**I liked it better when I didn't find Snape attractive, it was easier to hate him then…"**_

"_**I can't believe I could even imagine that I cared about Severus, he'll never see me as anything but 'Potter' I'm not my father! Would it kill him to give me just a little respect after everything I've gone though? Then again I guess he's gone through more, at least where Voldemort is concerned. I don't think I would have the strength to do what he does for all of us. I sometimes wish that Moony and Padfoot would leave him be, well Padfoot more so, but anyway…"**_

_*How on earth can he think that of me? After everything…* _Severus mused to himself. *_And I can't believe that both Lucius and Albus were right…surely it must be a cold day in hell._* He added with a mental huff.

Needless to say dinner was an extremely quiet affair, Severus scowled at his meal as he continued to turn his thoughts around in his head, while Harry kept his head down with his face staying a brilliant shade of pink the entire time and Draco and Lucius merely exchanged knowing smirks all through the meal. The rest of day passed rather uneventfully, aside from Severus and Lucius repairing the damage done to Harry's room, to the great relief of all in the house and morning found Harry being drug into a training room in the manor by an annoyingly awake and alert Severus.

"Merlin Professor what the bloody hell time is it anyway?" Harry asked scratching the back of his head before yawning as he was obviously still trying to wake up.

"Why don't you tell me Potter." Severus said simply which earned him a glare from the blind teen. "Don't look at me like that Potter the spell is very simple. 'Aliquam tempus'." He explained. As he did a thoughtful look crossed the younger man's face before he took hold of his wand.

"Aliquam tempus." Harry said simply before a low voice suddenly spoke and informed him of the time. He raised a brow at this and crossed his arms in front of himself. "So I can attach Aliquam to other spells as well? Like how you made the Potions textbook read to me?" Harry asked quickly.

"Indeed Potter and if you're around other people you can put a silencing charm around yourself so that you can listen without disturbing others." Severus explained finding himself slightly taken aback by the sudden look of joy that made its way to Harry's face.

"You've no idea how much I miss reading!" He exclaimed suddenly clapping his hands together suddenly in something that couldn't be seen as anything other than happiness. Severus smirked slightly at the joy that now seemed to be radiating from the teen before clearing this throat lightly.

"As surprising as I find that bit of information Potter that isn't the only thing we're here for you to learn." Severus said dryly before running a hand through his hair. "Those two are the more basic spells that will help you and the next is one that is slightly more complicated, it is the spell I've been using to charm your shoes." He explained taking note the look of extreme concentration on the younger man's face. "It works similar to Apparation as you need to have a clear picture of where you need to go in your mind when you cast it. The spell is De loco." Severus then set about giving Harry a very detailed description of the room that they were in until Harry had what he felt was a very clear mental picture of it.

"All right I think I'm ready to give it a try." He said simply before casting the spell and starting to slowly let his feet guide him across the room. Severus was mildly impressed until Harry got his foot caught on the leg of a chair as he was right near Severus and came crashing into him. The two quickly landed on the floor in a tangled mass of limbs.

"Honestly Potter…" Severus grumbled out quickly. Harry rather than snap out as he usually would have just found himself turning a wonderful shade of pink again and turned his head in what he hoped was the direction of Severus's face and let out an alarmed gasp as his lips brushed over another pair causing what felt like a small shock between them.

"Professor I…" Harry trailed off as he felt a finger lightly pressing against his lips.

"Severus please. Hearing you call me Professor makes the situation more complicated for me." The older man said quickly. At this Harry looked confused for a moment.

"What situa…" His question was cut off as a firmer pair of lips suddenly covered his own. As their lips met again Harry could feel his power rising but for the first time he wasn't afraid of it and almost welcomed the eruption as it seemed to spill out around the two of them, wrapping around both and pulling them closer together.

Harry gasped again softly when he felt Severus' tongue seeking entrance into his mouth and he gladly gave it. As tongues dueled it finally all clicked for Harry, all the frustration he'd had towards Severus, the need to have the man's respect, seeking him out for his help before anyone else, even the surges in his power that happened when the man was near, he loved him. He was completely and utterly in love with the man that was kissing him.

"Not quite what I was expecting but it will do." A voice stated from the doorway.

"Go away Draco of I'll tell Molly who it was that spiked the punch last Christmas." Harry said raising his head for a moment in the direction that he felt Draco's energy coming from.

"Killjoy." Draco hissed out before turning to leave though the two could still clearly hear him for a moment, "Make a friend trip to start things along and this is how he repays you."

"You've been a terrible influence on my godson Potter." Severus said with a shake of his head.

"Harry, I like it better when you call me Harry." The younger man said with a pleading expression on his face. It was in that moment that he realized what Albus had been trying to say the night before, Harry needed someone that would see him, someone who would just see Harry.

"I get the annoying feeling that the holidays are about to become far more interesting." Severus mused dryly. At the words Harry's blank eyes widened a bit as he seemed to be following the older man's train of thought.

"Moony and Padfoot!" He gasped suddenly. At the mention of the nicknames a sneer graced Severus' face.

"Lupin and Black." He grumbled out in annoyance.

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Ta-da! Your new chapter folks! Again so sorry for the delay, it hopefully won't be happening again in the near future but muses are evil and have minds of their own.


	11. Slowly Taking Control

Trucking along to chapter 11 and congrats fans it's a double chapter! As always disclaimers and such can be found in chapter 1 and if you have any issues with my grammar I might go back and fix it someday but chances are probably not because I'm lazy as all hell but you're all such darling little sweet peas that we won't let that bother us will we?

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Darkness – Chapter 11 – Slowly Taking Control

The afternoon found Harry sitting alone in his room milling over what had happened earlier in the day. He still couldn't quite seem to wrap his head around the fact that he and Severus had kissed. Even when Draco had been in the room before he had been making jokes about what had happened in an attempt to get a rise out of the ebony haired teen, but didn't it make it anymore real to him. He just couldn't imagine that the man would want to be tying himself down to a used and useless wizard like himself. Oddly enough up the stairs and down the hall Severus was having the same thoughts about the situation. He knew very well that he and Harry would be having a long conversation about what had happened but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

Finally sighing to himself, knowing that the longer he put it off the more awkward it would seem, he headed from his room and down to where Harry was currently located. Knocking quickly on the door he stepped into the room and found Harry curled up on the bed.

"Po-Harry, we should talk." Severus said simply and as soon as the words left his mouth he could see the young man visibly tense.

"It's all right sir, I understand, it was a mistake, it won't happen again." Harry blurted out quickly in a tone so flat that it even made Severus flinch as he watched the teen trying to put up a mask so similar to his own and it was then that Severus realized the extent of the damage that had been done. Seeing it also brought to light just how like him Harry actually was, not that the thought brought him any sort of comfort about the situation as he was well aware of the fact that the world did not need another him running around in it.

"Harry, no, that isn't what I meant we should talk about." The older man said quickly before taking a seat next to Harry on the bed, taking note that he hadn't really started the conversation in the best way. He quickly came to terms with the fact that his usual snarky potions master routine wouldn't help matters any and that if he truly wanted the help the young man then he would have to let him see the man that helped his Slytherins with problems like these and that he would also have to let him see the man that no one except Albus, Lucius and Draco saw. The blind man blinked a few times and cocked his head to the side in a move that reminded Severus of a confused dog for a moment, a fact that didn't really surprise him considering who the teen's godfather was, before he spoke again.

"It isn't? I would have thought that…" Harry trailed off at this not really wanting to voice what he had been thinking but considering that he was dealing with Severus he knew that the man wouldn't let well enough alone until he finished his sentence. "Thought that once you remembered how… how filthy I was you would… wouldn't want to be near me." He finally managed to get out after much pausing and stuttering. At this Severus looked at the Gryffindor in shock, an expression that he knew he wouldn't be allowing to surface if the other could actually see him.

"I could never think that." Severus said quickly with a tone so sure that Harry could feel the words resonating in his very soul, almost like someone was applying a balm to the damaged pieces there.

"I thought you hated me sir!" Harry followed up quickly, the confusion in his voice about the whole situation being painfully clear to the other man and he honestly couldn't blame him for it, he was for once as lost as his student, though he quickly pushed the thought away knowing that he couldn't think of Harry in a student capacity, at least not if he wanted to keep his own sanity intact.

"Severus. And I never hated you personally; I hated your fame, what your father did to an extent, and what you reminded me of." Severus said simply and as he did he couldn't help but notice that he felt a little lighter for finally saying it. "Your mother was one of my best friends, my first friend to be exact and seeing you use to remind me of losing her all over again." He explained, his voice becoming a bit rougher as he remembered his long dead friend.

"Why didn't you just tell me? Why did you let me think you hated me for so long?" Harry asked, his power level rising a bit with his stress level as he was trying to wrap his mind around what the other man was telling him. Severus was honestly at a loss, true it had made sense to let the young man think what he had wanted to when he was younger but Severus could have just a easily explained things to him when he had been old enough to realize the part that he was forced to play.

"I don't know, honestly. It was easy to play the part of the evil professor that seemed to loath your very existence when you were younger because I was still mourning the loss of your mother, and I allowed myself to get comfortable in the part I was supposed to play, but when you got older I should have explained everything to you but the memories you brought up involving your father and those other bloody Gryffindors made things raw all over again. Also you have a frightening knack for almost getting yourself killed and it's far easier keeping you safe when you don't realize I'm doing it." Severus huffed out, thinking back to the failed attempts at teaching Harry Occlumency in his 5th year making him a little sore at the young man all over again even though he was well aware of the fact that he had deserved what had happened.

"I do not! You think I want that psycho trying to kill me all the time?" The teen snapped out crossing his arms in front of him and wishing he knew which direction to best glare in.

"I didn't say you did now did I?" Severus hissed back. "I said you have a knack for it, not that you wanted it. Don't you think I am very well aware of the fact that you didn't ask for any of this now?" He asked moving so that he was now in front of Harry and gripping both of his shoulders, keeping note of the fact that the other's power level was still going up slightly.

"No you didn't… but…" Harry fumbled around looking for the right words but just couldn't seem to find them and the slightly hurt look on his face wasn't helping any.

"Harry, I am not a nice man despite what that barmy old man thinks, nor will I ever pretend to be. I will at times be hard to deal with but if you're really interested in this, in me, you will have to come to realize that and know that I will never intentionally hurt you." He said surprising the both of them when he ran a hand through Harry's hair. As the words ran through his mind Harry's power level slowly started to lower again to normal.

"I know, Pro… Severus, you've protected me all these years, if you hadn't cared at least to some degree I don't think even Dumbledore could have made you save me." Harry said with a small snicker at the thought of Albus and his lemon drops trying to bribe Severus to save him.

"Indeed." The older man added with a small scoff. "I cannot pretend to be more than I am and while I am a bastard at times I will never lie to you about it." He added. At this Harry nodded his head again.

"You're one of the few people in my life that never has." Harry murmured out which shocked Severus slightly but he knew that he shouldn't have been all that surprised. He too could tell when Albus was telling him half-truths and considering Harry's many dealings with the man he no doubt could as well, regardless of the fact that they were told for their own safety it still hurt on occasion to think that the old man might feel like they couldn't handle something.

"Albus." He said simply which earned another nod from the teen.

"I understand why he does it but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Harry huffed out which caused Severus to chuckle lowly as the statement mirrored his own thoughts on the matter.

"Indeed, I hope that the old coot will realize it's not needed someday." He said simply before he then cleared his throat and looked carefully at the teen for a moment before moving on to more pressing issues. "Now that wasn't the only thing, that mutt you call a godfather and his wolf will be here the day after tomorrow…" The small surge of power caused the man to trail off.

"Please try to avoid calling them that, I know you don't like them and I know I will find myself in the middle of some epic arguments, I'm not foolish enough to believe otherwise, but I don't think it will kill you to call them by their names." Harry growled out, his dull eyes seeming to darken even more in annoyance.

"Very well for your sake and my own, I will stick to Black and Lupin." Severus said stiffly. He couldn't say he was thrilled about the prospect of attempting to be civil but decided that if it would help the teen keep his powers in check and hopefully keep the manor in one piece than so be it.

"That's all I want." Harry said reaching out a hand searching for Severus' own. The older man realized when he was doing and took hold of Harry's hand. Harry then tried to raise it and Severus knew what it was he wanted before bringing it up to his face, he'd done it with his grandmother so many times that he had almost done it without thinking.

Fingertips trailed lightly over Severus' cheekbone before leaving was felt like a trail of fire down the side of his face to his jaw. They then ghosted over his lips and crept up along the bridge of his nose before making their way up to trace along his brow. A deep and somewhat content sounding sigh escaped the older man at the treatment causing Harry to smirk just a bit before he leaned forward and followed his hand to the man's face and planted a kiss firmly on his lips. The potions master went wide eyed for a moment still trying to convince himself that this was indeed real before his eyes slipped closed and he deepened the kiss. The two fell back onto the bed, Severus covering the still recovering form below him but that was a thought that didn't cross his mind until he touched Harry's side causing the young man to whimper and slowly start to curl into himself.

"Please…" He whispered out lowly. At this Severus looked at him with shock and guilt clearly written on his face, despite Harry's inability to see it, and mentally cursed himself for allowing his libido to dictate his actions.

"I'm so sorry, I…" He was cut off as Harry quickly batted his hands away for a moment and scooted up a little higher on the bed.

"Just… just don't…" He mumbled out before reaching for the older man's hand again and gripping it tightly. "I don't think I can…" He trailed off not sure how to finish that sentence. He clearly enjoyed kissing Severus but the thought of someone, even the man he was slowly coming to realize he loved, touching him like that; it made him want to crawl out of his own skin and run screaming into the night.

"I understand, I do, no need to say it. Know this now, and I will say it as often as you need it to be said, you have the control here." Severus said touching Harry's cheek lightly. It caused the younger man to jump at first but as he realized the truth in the words he slowly leaned into the touch and sighed softly.

"Thank you, and not just for this, thank you for everything." Harry said in a small voice before bringing up the hand that he held and resting his forehead against it. Severus wanted to tell Harry that he had nothing to thank him for but the expression of gratitude and relief, no doubt at finally having been able to say that, on Harry's face was enough to make the words stick in this throat.

The two stayed like that for a long while and Severus didn't leave the room until he was sure that Harry was soundly asleep. Before leaving the room he quickly cast a monitoring charm on the room to alert him if Harry's power level started to increase, he didn't want to have to fix the room every time the young man took a nap. He knew it was beyond Harry's control but fixing the walls and windows was slightly draining and he made a mental note to ask Albus what spells were on the castle windows to make them right themselves when they were broken. He was still musing to himself about the coming mutt invasion and what sort of strain it would put on whatever it was that he and Harry had started when he reached the study. Glancing in the room he found both Lucius and Draco obviously waiting for him to arrive. Stepping into the room he glanced at the two men before taking a seat across from them. Draco had a serious expression on his face while Lucius merely looked thoughtful. Raising a brow at the two men he said nothing and just waited for them to speak.

"You know if you hurt him I'll kill you right?" Draco asked evenly and with such an innocent tone that it floored both the men in the room. Lucius looked at his son with something akin to shock on his face not really having realized to depth of caring that he had for Harry.

"While the statement surprises me to an extent the fact that you said it surprises me even more." He said simply. "I never thought I would see the day when you were looking out for Harry Potter. Tell me Draco if you were that concerned for him why didn't you simply tell him to stay away from me? You know he runs the risk of being hurt whether I would actually try to hurt him or not." Severus said with a look of self-loathing ghosting across his features at the thought, Draco had missed it but Lucius knew him well enough to catch it.

"Severus enough. You care for Potter, and you said it yourself you would never hurt him on purpose so let it go. I'm sure Potter knows as well as you do the chances that he is taking by wanting to be close to you. And if he wasn't before I'm sure you've warned him." Lucius said with a roll of his eyes. Severus looked at the blond for a moment wondering if he had been listening in on the conversation that he had just had with Harry but he was sure that the teen would have mentioned someone listening in to the conversation if he had picked up on their energy.

"Be that as it may it doesn't lessen the risk any and it does little to reassure me that this is in anyway a good idea, though I've no doubt that it is what that barmy old man had been hoping would happen when he sent Harry here for the holiday." Severus growled out not noticing the amused expressions that Lucius and Draco exchanged at Severus' slip of the tongue.

"Harry now is it?" Draco asked with a small smirk. Severus merely rolled his eyes at this before the conversation turned to less serious matters.

"_You will lose everything…" Voldemort said with a hissing laugh as he learned over Harry, eying the teen carefully._

_Harry shuddered at the gaze but he was determined not to glance over at Severus' prone form that was lying only feet away from where he was being pinned down by Death Eaters, he hadn't a clue if Voldemort knew about the two of them and he'd be damned if he would give away that information._

"_What the fuck are you hoping to accomplish Tom?" Harry hissed out at him with an annoyed look on his face, taking great joy in the fact that Voldemort hissed in anger at the use of his muggle name._

"_To turn you of course, a Rage would be a very powerful tool to have at my disposal." The snake faced man said with a twisted grin. Harry's eyes widened at this trying to figure out how on earth the maniac had found out about that._

"_Severus was rather informative." He said with a hissing laugh before motioning to one of the Death Eaters. Harry couldn't tell which one it was but the man kicked Severus roughly causing him to roll and Harry finally saw his face and it was a bloody mess, Harry realized that he couldn't see an inch of skin that wasn't either bloody or bruised and he could quickly feel his anger rising._

In the dining room a small alarm went off alerting Severus to the slowly climbing power level and he jumped up quickly from his meal and took off in the direction of Harry's room with both Malfoys hot on his heels. Having learned their lesson the last time, as they got closer to the room the two hung back and allowed Severus to head into the room himself for a moment. As he entered his quickly noticed two things, the first was that Harry's body was slightly raised off the bed and the second was that the young man was screaming in what he assumed to be Parseltongue if the fact that his own pet snake, Alexandria, was in the room hissing up a storm. Reaching out slowly he gently gripped Harry's arm pulling the young man to himself.

"Harry, Harry, please, wake up Harry." Severus whispered out softly into the teen's ear hoping that the same trick would work again. He could feel Harry's body tense in his arms and the energy in the room seemed to spike for a moment before it slowly started to lower once more. Glancing down he realized that Harry's eyes were now open but he didn't have much time to study the younger man before he launched himself at him, climbing into his lap and wrapping himself around him.

"They knew Severus, they knew you were a spy, they tortured you for information… you looked so defeated." Harry panted out obviously still trying to banish the nightmare from his mind. Severus merely looked at the teen before brushing his hair back with his free hand.

"Harry, the Dark Lord does suspect that someone in the ranks is a spy, he does not know it's me though, I am safe for the time being and so are you. These nightmares, whatever is causing them, I think it is tied to your slowly awakening power and not actually the Dark Lord himself." Severus murmured out, it had been a theory he'd been mulling over and he hadn't really been ready to share it yet but it was obvious that Harry needed to hear something and it was really all Severus had to tell him at the moment.

"Riddle." Harry spat. "He's no Lord, he's a crazy ass muggle-born on a power trip." He bit out quickly causing all three men to look at him in surprise. Not many people remembered that little fact about Voldemort and none of them could remember telling Harry about it.

"Har, how did you know?" Draco asked what they were all thinking.

"He told me himself when I faced off against the diary horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets." Harry supplied with a shrug of his shoulders. The three merely nodded while Lucius looked slightly guilty, as though he could sense it Harry sighed. "I don't blame you for that just so you know. Draco told me that Narcissa had tortured you for quite a bit until you finally agreed to do Riddle's bidding and that it wasn't even until after she had threatened to Crucio Draco that you finally gave in." Harry said with a small smile trying to show that he really didn't blame the man. "I'll admit that I was a little skeptical until Dobby finally confirmed what Dray had told me about everything that had happened. And then the more I thought about it I realized that you had to have noticed the sock I slipped into the diary when I handed it back to you that day. You gave it to Dobby on purpose didn't you?" Harry wondered aloud at something he had been rather curious about.

"I might have taken note of a not so well hidden article of clothing." Lucius said simply with an amused tone in his voice. Draco merely rolled his eyes at his father's roundabout way of answering the question and a small snort escaped him.

"That would be a yes." It was then that something dawned on Draco, something that he was surprised he hadn't taken note of before. "You were the reason that Dobby went to warn Harry weren't you father?" He asked glancing at the elder Malfoy in surprise. The question also caused a look of surprise to appear on Harry's face as well.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to piece it together Draco, you're usually such a clever boy." Lucius said simply with a small smirk on his face as he looked at his son who was now gaping at him like a fish.

"Thank you Mister Malfoy. If Dobby hadn't been trying to warn me about what was happening I don't think I really would have survived 2nd year." Harry said seriously with a look of gratitude plastered on his face.

"Lucius please, Mister Malfoy makes me feel so old." The blond man said with a shudder at the thought of actually being old. "Think nothing of it, once I realized what the diary actually did I couldn't very well just sit back and do nothing, Draco would have been in just as much danger as all the other muggle-borns and half-bloods. People have forgotten over time that down our family line there were a number of half-bloods." Lucius said simply and the information was clearly a surprise to Draco if the slightly strangled noise the blond was now making was anything to go by. "I'm guessing there are a few things I need to tell you now. Come along Draco." Lucius said simply before grabbing his son by the arm and dragging him for the room.

Harry merely giggled as he could clearly hear Draco yelling out questions as Lucius drug him down the hall. He then realized that he was still sitting in Severus' lap but he also found that he really had no desire to move anytime soon. It was then that he noticed the hissing sound in the room. He raised a brow and turned his head slightly so that Severus could clearly see it.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a pet snake?" Harry mumbled out as he could sense the snake moving closer to the two of them.

"Her name is Alexandria; she was a gift to me from my mother before… before she died." Severus said. Harry had noticed the pause but from the way the older man had tensed he could tell that now was not the time to be asking questions about the mysterious woman who had birthed him though he recalled that Severus had said the woman had committed suicide before he had gotten his letter but something about that didn't seem right, the timing was all wrong. "She is an Inland Taipan." He added as an afterthought. Harry's blank eyes widened a bit at this information and he couldn't help but find himself a bit alarmed.

"Severus, those are the most deadly breed of snake known in the muggle world." He muttered out quickly.

"Indeed." Severus said both surprised and not that Harry would be aware of that little bit of information. "She has also been my best friend for a number of years." The older man said with a hint of affection in his voice as the snake rubbed her head along his hand.

"**A ****pleassure ****to**** meeet ****you**** Alllexannndriaaa.****" **Harry hissed out to the snake. Severus could tell that whatever the young man had said had surprised the snake as she reared up and moved her head closer to Harry.

"**You**** aaare**** a ****ssspeaker.****" **The snake hissed out as she tasted the air around the young Gryffindor. **"****You**** aaare ****alssso**** very ****powerful.****" **She continued on, it was then that she tasted something off. **"****Yet ****you ****cannot**** sssee**** meee.****" **The snake mused to Harry before she noticed his out stretched hand. She tasted the air around the offered hand for a moment before rubbing her head along it. **"****You**** are ****veery ****important ****to ****my ****massster,****I ****ssshall**** look**** afffter ****you ****young**** sssnake, ****I**** will ****be**** eyesss ****for ****you**** until ****you ****haaave**** your ****own**** aaagain.****" **She hissed out in a tone that made Harry realize that he really didn't have a say in the matter.

"**Thhank ****you,**** your ****massster ****is**** very ****important**** to**** me ****assss ****well.****" **Harry said with a blush creeping its way to his cheeks again.

Severus watched the exchange between the two with a look of awe, pride and longing all rolled into one. He was pleased at the fact that his familiar seemed to be as taken with Harry as the teen was with her, he also found himself marveling at how different the Parseltongue language sounded coming from someone who wasn't insane and he himself longed to be able to converse with his familiar in the way that Harry himself was at that moment. When he noticed the blush on the teen's face though, he nudged the younger man slightly.

"Alexandria tells me that I'm important to you and that because I am she will look after me." Harry said as his cheeks darkened a bit more.

"Leave it to my familiar to give away my secrets." Severus said with a small scoff as he ran a finger gently over the large snake's head. Harry smirked a little before his expression turned slightly serious again.

"She also said that she will be my eyes until I have my own again." He said suddenly causing Severus to look at both the snake and the young man in surprise.

"Did she explain what she meant?" Severus asked quickly. At the question though, Harry shook his head in the negative.

"She didn't but I can only assume that she picked up on something from me, maybe this really is only temporary, I mean isn't possible that whoever Riddle used to make the potion, since it wasn't you, could have botched it?" Harry asked quickly, doing his best to keep the slightly hopeful tone out of his voice. Severus mulled over the question for a good bit before answering finally.

"There is always possibilities, but I will not know for sure until I study the item that we retrieved from your muggle relative's home." At the mention of the muggles Harry paled slightly.

"You never told me what happened when you went there, what you did to them." Harry said softly.

"And the information will die with me one day." Severus said simply. Harry opened his mouth to protest but he was quickly cut off. "As I told you before they are not worth it." He said simply before finally sliding Harry from his lap and standing up once more. Harry merely sighed again knowing that Severus wouldn't give him the information that he wanted, at least not yet anyway.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt warm lips press against his forehead and he leaned into the gesture seemingly on auto pilot, not that he was complaining mind you. He listened for a long moment as Severus left the room and continued to sit there mulling over his own thoughts until he sensed the man return. He then felt a vial placed into his hands and didn't even have to guess to know what it was.

"Dreamless Sleep?" He asked wiggling the vial slightly.

"Indeed, you need rest and these nightmares are robbing you of that. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Severus said simply. Harry merely nodded his head before downing the potion and allowing Severus to help him lay back down.

"Thank you again." Harry murmured out before his eyes drifted shut as the potion quickly took effect. Severus said nothing and merely watched the young man sleep for a moment before he noticed Alexandria curling up at the foot of the teen's bed, her black eyes obviously watching over the young man. Satisfied at the situation, at least for the time being, Severus turned and left the room to get some much needed sleep himself.

When Harry woke the next morning he sighed deeply as he stretched and took note of the fact that he felt more rested than he had in a long time and silently thanked Severus once more, at least until his stomach growled at him. It only took a moment to recall not really eating anything the day before. He slowly sat up and placed his feet on the floor before he realized he had no way of finding the kitchen on his own.

"**You ****are ****hungry ****young ****sssnake. ****Come,****I**** will ****lead**** you.****" **A voice suddenly spoke to him. He hadn't sensed anyone in the room so the sudden voice caused him to jump slightly until he realized that Alexandria was in the room with him. Nodding his head he listened to the snakes instructions and managed to make it to the kitchens where he was met with a gleeful squeal.

"Master Harry Potter is up and about, Dobby is most happy to see his friend!" He heard the house elf yell out. Harry smiled at the obvious joy of the house elf and nodded his head.

"It is good to see… er… well it is good to know you're here Dobby, does Dumbledore know?" He asked curious as to how the house elf made his way to Snape Manor.

"The Headmaster is the one who sent Dobby to be helping Harry Potter. Says that Dobby is the best house elf to be helping his friend." The little creature said and as he spoke Harry could clearly picture the house elf beaming with pride. Harry could hear a hissing laugh coming from the left of him.

"**The ****little ****crrreature ****is****ss quite ****taaaken ****with ****yooou.****" **Harry merely nodded his head, making note to explain Dobby's attachment to him to the snake at some point during his stay.

"Do you think I might be able to get some breakfast Dobby?" At the question Harry found himself quickly being sat by Dobby and it was only a moment later that his nose was assaulted by the smell of eggs and bacon. He smiled his thanks before tucking into the hearty meal that was provided for him.

Sadly, thanks to his stomach still trying to get used to having real food again, even after all the meals at Hogwarts, he was only able to eat about half of what was given to him but he was thankful nonetheless and told the house elf as much earning him another speech about how kind he was from Dobby.

"If Master Harry Potter be needing anything else you just call for Dobby." The little elf said quickly as he helped Harry back to his feet and guided him to the room that Severus had instructed that he take Harry after the young man had woken.

"Dobby please, just Harry will be fine." The young wizard said and he didn't have to see to be able to hear the joy and tears in the elf voice as he spoke again.

"Master Harry is to kind to Dobby, to kind, such a friend." The little elf gushed once more before disappearing out of the room much to the delight of Alexandria if the annoyed hisses that the snake had been giving about her being able to lead Harry just fine were anything to go by.

"I see your little friend is rather excited to see you." Severus said with an amused tone in his voice. "Albus sent him as it seems his concern for you was causing a commotion among the other elves in the castle." He explained.

"I can't say I'm all that surprised. He really is one of a kind." Harry said with a small laugh as he listened to Alexandria direct him to an empty chair across from Severus. Once he was seated Severus leaned forward and took hold of one of his hands. Harry cocked his head to the side again with a curious expression on his face.

"I want to focus on that little trick of yours, since you can't see perhaps we can find a way for you to use focusing on someone's magical energy as a way to pin point where to cast your spells." Severus said simply. Harry nodded slowly at this knowing that the idea made sense but worrying about actually casting a spell at someone when he honestly had no idea how much the surges of power he had been having had effected him.

"I can't argue the logic, but I don't like the idea of sending spells in your direction when I don't know what the hell the outcome will be." He said quickly, tightening his hold on Severus' hand a bit at he spoke.

"I don't really see any other options at this point, while I'm hoping that this blindness is just temporary you must be ready to fight should the need arise." Severus explained quickly. Nodding mutely Harry simply leaned back in his seat with a sigh.

"Then I guess there really isn't any point in arguing with you about as you've clearly made up your mind about the matter." He said with a huff. Severus let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he had expected Harry to give much more of a fight over the course of action that he had wanted to take. Wanting to begin as soon as possible Severus leaned back in his own seat before he ran through his own thoughts for a moment.

"I want you to focus your thoughts on Draco, you know he is somewhere here in the manor, I want you to seek out his energy with your own." Severus said simply, watching as Harry closed his vacant eyes and appeared to be trying to do as he had asked.

Harry could feel his own magic stretching out around the room, but the harder he thought about it and tried to expand it beyond the room the more it seemed to shrink back in on itself. He continued on for a number of minutes before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"It's not working. I honestly don't know if I can control it, it always seems like more of a knee jerk reaction when it happens." Harry grumbled out causing Severus to sigh as well.

"We've only just started and you're already trying to quit." He growled out in annoyance. Harry scowled at the tone from the man and crossed his arms in front of him. "If you're going to half ass this like you did the Occlumency then there is no point to it."

"I didn't half ass anything! I was fifteen and scared out of my damn mind and no one would tell me what the hell was going on!" Harry snapped out, his power slowly starting to make the book shelves in the room groan. "Maybe if you had tried talking to me about it, maybe even had taken the time to explain it to me properly instead of going on about how much you loathed my father I would have been able to learn it then!" The young man hissed out.

Severus could clearly hear the shelves starting to splinter slightly when suddenly everything stopped and he noticed that Harry had a surprised expression on his face.

"Draco is in the kitchen." He said suddenly causing Severus to look a bit surprised which in turn caused Alexandria to inform Harry of this which then caused the teen to giggle. "Apparently surprise is rather becoming on you Severus." He snickered, all anger at what the man had said seeming to have vanished.

"It seems that what we need to do first is find a way for you to harness that power of yours." Severus mused simply mentally berating himself for not drawing that conclusion sooner.

"I don't know where I would even start with that. It only ever seems to come out when I'm angry and I don't fancy being pissed off all the time, especially since a lot of it seems to revolve around you." The teen muttered out softly.

"I may be the cause for much of your anger but your power does not seem to want to harm me, in fact when you had the first nightmare here your power threw both Malfoys against the wall and yet it allowed me to get to you, in fact it even felt as if it were trying to protect me." Severus explained finally filling Harry in on what he hadn't been aware of before.

"That's why you're willing to allow me to use you as target practice." Harry said with surprise clear in his voice.

"Indeed." The older man said simply. "Try focusing on the nightmares Harry, think back to the anger you felt at the Dar… Riddle over what had happened in them, think about the way you felt the magic building up in you." Severus explained. As he spoke Harry allowed his eyes to close again and focused as Severus had instructed.

Slowly but surely he could feel his anger towards Voldemort rising and like in his dreams he could feel the power welling up in him as well. Keeping hold of it as best he could he tried to force it out and around himself. Across from him Severus could feel the power radiating from the younger man and was astounded by it.

"Draco is in the kitchen, now he's moving down the hall. Lucius is one… no two floors up from us and he's… pacing?" Harry stated curiously.

"Excellent and the pacing isn't all that surprising as before you woke this morning Draco finally told Lucius about himself and the Weasley boy." Severus muttered out which caused Harry to open his eyes in surprise and as soon as he did he felt completely drained.

"I thought he had told him that already." Harry stated in surprised.

"It would seem not." Severus said simply as he noted the energy level in the room going back down. "Let's try it again shall we?" At the question Harry shook his head.

"I think that took more out of me than I thought it would." Harry said before a yawn escaped from him. Rather than running the risk of upsetting the young man again Severus allowed him to relax and the two chatted until Dobby appeared to inform them that lunch was ready.

The rest of the day passed more or less in the same manner, Severus having Draco and Lucius move to various rooms throughout the evening and trying to help Harry focus long enough to locate them and by the time Severus led Harry back to his room it was more than clear that the young man was dead on his feet. Due to the obvious draining effect of controlling his emotions and the trying to harness the amount of power coming from himself, Harry had used up almost all of the Pepper-Up supply that Severus had in his home and that was saying something.

"Do you think it will get easier?" Harry asked with a sigh as he was finally situated in the bed. He didn't know how long he could keep up with the draining effect the new power seemed to have on him.

"I would imagine that like any magical skill that the more you work at it and practice the better you will become." Severus said simply not really knowing what else he could honestly say, it becoming very clear to him that he had something else to ask Albus about when he next spoke with the man.

Bidding Harry goodnight Severus headed to his own rooms, crashing almost as soon as he hit his bed, the stress of trying to keep Harry balanced throughout the day finally catching up with him as well.

The next morning found the two of them back at it again and though he still found it draining as all hell, Harry didn't seem to have as much trouble tapping into the anger and allowing the new power in him to flow. Watching him Severus was starting to develop a theory about the new power but until he had more to go on he didn't think it wise to bring up the matter. The two were having lunch in the library, having just completed another training session when Harry suddenly quirked a brow at the man.

"You loved my mother didn't you?" He asked suddenly, the question flooring Severus slightly as it had seemingly come from no where, as the two hadn't even spoke of Lily since Severus had informed Harry that the two of them had been friends.

"I did, but not in the way I assume you're thinking." Severus started. "As I said your mother was the first real friend that I had and even as we got older and I made the biggest mistakes of my life she still tried her hardest to keep those lines of friendship open to me despite the efforts of Black to change that." He went on to say. Harry looked puzzled at this so Severus continued. "Black was always under the impression that I was attempting to steal Lily away from James, despite Lily's best efforts to explain otherwise without coming right out and informing them that I was gay." Severus said with a snort. "I could have only imagined the ridicule I would have gotten from them had that little bit of information gotten out back then." He muttered darkly.

"Is that why… is that what caused the whole Shrieking Shack thing?" Harry asked; worried that bringing up the topic would cause Severus to snap at him, he was surprised though when the exact opposite happened.

"I believe it was as in the end your father apologized to me for the whole thing, though this was after Lily gave him hell about it, though I didn't escape her wrath either as she was rather perturbed that she had to find out what had happened from Lupin." Severus said with a chuckle at the memory of Lily practically breathing fire when she accused him of trying to hide things from her. "Your mother was one of the few people to ever stand up for me, she stood up for everyone that she could and I see a lot of that in you, though of course I also see a bit of your father as well, but there is of course the things are that just Harry." Severus said seeming to be musing more to himself than anything else but his thoughts were cut off when Harry's lip were suddenly on his own again for a moment before they were gone again. "Something I said?"

"You're the first person who had known my parents that sees me for me." Harry whispered out with both happiness and sadness in his voice. "Even Sirius doesn't seem to see me beyond dad." Harry grumbled out before flopping back in his seat again. "In the Department of Mysteries when, we almost lost him, while fighting the Death Eaters there he called me James." He said looking rather put out.

"Harry, you know for a fact that I am the last person who would ever defend Black but I could see how he could make the mistake." Severus said simply. "All the time in Azkaban so soon after your parents were murdered, Black no doubt never got the chance to grieve for them properly and then to finally get back in touch with you and find you looking so much like James, especially when you're dueling, you get the same look about you, the same look of serious concentration, it was no wonder that in the heat of battle that he would see the friend he lost in you. That and it doesn't help that Azkaban can addle ones brain quite a bit, isn't that right Black?" Severus asked glancing towards the door to see a stunned looking Sirius and thoughtful looking Remus.

"Sna… Severus, could I have a moment with Harry." Sirius mumbled out surprising everyone in the room by using the other man's first name. Severus merely nodded his head before standing.

"I'll be just out in the hallway." He whispered quickly to Harry before heading out of the room and into the hall with Remus.

As he leaned against the wall he noticed that Remus was looking at him with an annoying twinkle in his eyes that would rival the maddening one that belong to Albus. He scowled at the other man for a long moment but said nothing.

"Thank you Severus." The werewolf said with a warm smile on his face though the smile was merely because he had been able to smell the attraction in the room. He knew since the day it had been decided that Harry would spend his holiday with Severus that something was wrong, something hadn't been right with Harry though the teen would not tell them what. On more than one occasion Remus had picked up on the scent of pain and agony from the teen but he couldn't find the right words to ask about it.

"I didn't do it for you." Severus finally snapped out after a long moment. "I did it for Lily and Harry." He added as the glare slowly started to lessen. In truth Severus really no longer had any issues with Remus; it was Sirius that continued to be the bane of his existence. Silence returned between the two of them as Severus turned his attention back to monitoring Harry's energy level.

"I am so sorry Harry." Sirius said quickly as he moved to occupy the chair that Severus had been in. "I never meant to make you feel like I only saw you as a substitute for your parents." He said trailing off as he tried to gage Harry's reaction to what he was saying. Surprisingly the teen nodded his head slowly. "To have Snape point out my shortcomings and actually being right is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow." Sirius huffed out which caused Harry to chuckle slightly at the man.

"I'm glad he did though." Harry murmured out. "It hurt when you called me James, but I couldn't find the words to tell you just how much so Severus actually did us both a favor." He mused. The fact that he had used the man's first name was not lost on Sirius but he merely assumed it was because the two were obviously getting along. The fact didn't exactly thrill Sirius but Harry seemed to actually be doing much better.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but you're right, he did." Sirius finally admitted hoping to Merlin that Severus wasn't actually listening to the conversation that was taking place.

"Did you really think that he was trying to steal mum away from dad?" Harry asked suddenly the question having been on his mind as it had been the topic of conversation before Sirius and Remus had arrived. The question actually surprised Sirius quite as bit as it hadn't been something he had thought about for a long time.

"I did." He said simply. "I didn't really know Snape back then, not that I know him any better now, and Lily never really told us much about him. All I saw was a Slytherin being very chummy with your dad's girl and couldn't help but draw my own conclusions and the rumors about his father being a Death Eater didn't exactly help my opinion either." Sirius explained, thinking on the subject more than he ever really had before.

"So baseless conclusions and rumors were enough to condemn him?" Harry asked with a tone of disbelief in his voice and his power level starting to increase slightly.

"I was young Harry." Sirius said with a shrug of his shoulders trying to figure out why Harry was so upset about it all in the first place.

"And yet you still despise him even after all this time." Harry grumbled out. "Do you know what sorts of hatred and distrust that kind of thinking breeds?" He hissed out suddenly, his expression darkening. "Do you have any idea what it's like for people to loathe you just because of what they assume they know?" The teen yelled out suddenly as his power started to climb faster, as memories of all the times other students at Hogwarts had shunned him thinking him to possibly be a dark wizard and the sudden spike caused Severus to dart back into the room.

"Harry!" His voice boomed suddenly. Lost in his anger over Sirius' juvenile way of thinking Harry barely registered his name being yelled as the book shelves started to creak and groan once again causing Remus, who had followed Severus into the room to look at Sirius with a sort of cross look.

"Sirius what did you say to him?" He asked quickly concerned for both his mate and cub.

"I don't know! One minute he was asking me about why I thought Snape was trying to steal Lily from James and the next minute he's like that!" Sirius said looking worriedly at his godson and seeming as a loss as to what to do for him once again. The two men watched though as Severus quickly moved in front of Harry taking hold of the younger man's face gently.

"Get your hands off him Snape!" Sirius barked out quickly. He jumped up from the chair he'd been sitting in and grabbed Severus by the back of the collar and tried to pull him away from Harry and he quickly found himself being thrown back by a surge of energy. He'd at first assumed that Severus had hexed him until he noticed the dark expression on Harry's face.

"Touch him again Sirius and we'll see just what this new power of mine can really do." Harry growled out lowly.

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End Chapter 11.


	12. Shock and Conversations

All right on to chapter 12! As always disclaimers and such are in chapter 1 and a few of the others I think so you can always go look there. My grammar isn't the best, blah, blah, blah… anyway enjoy sweet peas!

Also I'm dedicating this chapter to FiresBurningTouch because their review made me giggle and SeaBreeze2Ga because theirs made me smile.

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Darkness – Chapter 12 – Shock and Conversations

"Harry, enough." Severus said sternly. He was almost certain he knew why the younger man was now so upset with his godfather and while he loved seeing Sirius put out in some way he knew that Harry would no doubt regret his actions later.

"No!" Harry hissed out allowing the magical pressure that was building against Sirius to increase which caused to man to shift uncomfortably as he felt like if it continued he would be crushed to death. "I'm so tired of people being morons all the time!" He snapped out glaring at nothing, though the other three men could only assume that could the young man see he would have been aiming that glare at Sirius.

"You and the rest of the world, now let it go." Severus said with a sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand, trying to calm himself as well as Harry.

"You're being far to forgiving about this Severus." The younger man grumbled out while slowly reaching up and placing his hand over the one on his shoulder. "I would think I wasn't asking too much for a grown man to think about his actions no matter how long ago it happened." Harry huffed out, his power level still high enough to cause Severus concern and not to mention scare the hell out of Sirius.

"I never said I forgive Black, I doubt I ever really will for everything that happened, and I'm more concerned about you at the moment anyway." Severus said simply while ignoring the other two men in the room for the time being. "True you may be angry now and you know I would love nothing more than to see you fling Black all across the manor, but you know as well as I that you'll only regret it later." He finished before letting go of Harry and moving to stand to the side of the younger man.

Harry sighed at the older man's statement knowing he was right, as he continuously seemed to be the last few days. He then sat there for a long moment willing himself to calm down as he finally let Sirius have some breathing room again, he really didn't want to hurt Sirius he loved the man dearly despite the fact that he still seemed to have the mentality of a 5th year on occasion.

"I'm sorry Sirius, I…" Harry started to say but was cut off soon after he started to speak.

"You really don't have anything to apologize for Harry." Remus said finally speaking up. "Sirius won't admit it but he's well aware of how childish his reasons are for this continuous grudge he has against Severus, as well as how childish his reasons were back then." He added giving his now sheepish looking mate a stern look. "Hopefully this little incident will help him learn to curb his tongue in the future." The werewolf stated with a huff seeming only slightly miffed at the situation.

Harry couldn't seem to stop the smirk that crept on to his face nor could he manage to suppress the small laugh that escaped him as well. Despite the fact that the two were married it often seemed to him that Remus was the adult in the relationship and Sirius the spoiled child, not that he would ever say that to his godfather's face, at least not unless he really deserved it.

"I am sorry though, I'm supposed to be learning to control this anger in me but when something reminds me of some of the things I've been through myself it just sort of sets me off and often times I'm not even really aware of it until after something has happened." Harry muttered out with a sigh. Severus could tell that the little display of power had drained him a bit but had nothing to offer the younger man.

"If you think you can refrain from hexing anyone five ways from Sunday I can brew more Pepper-Up potion, as I've no doubt that we'll need it as we continue on with your training sessions." Severus said casually. Harry chuckled a little at the statement and nodded his head.

"As long as Sirius doesn't have any more open mouth insert foot moments and Remus stays here to make sure of that, I think we can manage the two hours that you need." Harry said with a small smirk as he could clearly hear Sirius opening and closing his mouth obviously trying to think of something to say to the two of them.

Severus said nothing else, despite the fact that he was surprised that Harry had actually remembered how long the potion took to make, before leaving the other three men in the room. Harry started to toy with his fingers once he realized that he was now alone with his godfathers for the first time in a long while and he honestly could think of nothing to say. Part of him wanted to cry and tell them all that had happened as he'd no doubt that his secrecy was hurting them, while the other part of him just wanted to continue on as he always had. Seeing the conflict on the young man's face Sirius and Remus exchanged looks for a moment.

"How have things been here Harry?" Sirius finally managed to get out. It wasn't every day that one's godson suddenly threatened to hex them and then have said godson joke about you to someone that you looked at as an enemy of sorts no matter how silly your reasons.

"It's been interesting to say the least. It hasn't been easy, not that I expected it to be, but Severus has been pretty patient with me but I can't help but wonder if that's just because he's scared I'll toss him across the room if he pisses me off." He said with a small laugh at the mental image that had popped into his head. The other two men laughed a little as well at the statement.

"You and Severus seem to be getting on rather well now." Remus said evenly, managing not to give away what he had picked up from the two of them and Harry nodded at the statement.

"I think we're finally beginning to understand each other, he's been a big help and I don't think I could have found anyone better to help me. In fact I'm still surprised that he agreed to it when I asked him." Harry muttered out which caused both Sirius and Remus to exchange matching surprised expressions.

"We thought you being here was Albus' idea." Remus piped up feeling a little confused by the statement the younger man had made.

"Well yeah my being here was his barmy idea but I was the one who asked Severus to help me in the first place. He's the only person I know who wouldn't try to coddle me in some way, no offense." He explained while a slightly guilty and sheepish look crept across his face.

"None taken." Sirius said with amusement in his voice. He'd no doubt that Harry was right in his assessment so he couldn't really find any reason to complain about the younger man's decision no matter home much he personally didn't like Severus. And so the three spent the better part of the two hours catching up while Harry also filled them in on the progress that he and Severus were making during his little training sessions and Harry continuously danced around the topic of just how much his relationship with the other man was improving, something that both men found curious but for different reasons.

"I almost forgot Harry; we received a letter from Lily's sister this morning. Apparently she managed to get it to Albus and he asked that we deliver it to you when we arrived." Remus suddenly said having actually almost forgotten about it. The fact that Harry paled a great deal at the news wasn't lost on the two men.

"You didn't read it did you?" Harry whispered out in a low voice. Sirius and Remus exchanged looks before looking back at the younger man.

"We had assumed it was personal, should we have?" Remus asked evenly despite the fact that the scent of fear was now rolling off of Harry in waves. "Does it have something to do with whatever it was that Albus tried to tell us but you wouldn't let him?" He added as an afterthought.

"Harry you know you can tell us anything. We're here to help you and care for you, we're family." Sirius said suddenly crouching down in front of where his godson sat and taking hold of Harry's now shaking hands.

Harry let the words wash over him and he knew that Sirius meant them with everything that he was, despite Harry's little blow up at him, but it didn't make this any easier. He had never wanted anyone to know about anything that had happened. Why did his life always seem to be beyond his control? It was that thought though that seemed to make things click into place for him. He would never have that control if he continued to let his fears drive him, continued to let them make him hide who he really was and what he was thinking away from everyone. He'd no doubt that Severus had already figured that out and was just waiting for him to realize it himself and he mentally cursed the man.

"Read the letter Remus, out loud, please." Harry said letting out a shaky sigh.

"_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I don't know if you will ever be able to forgive me for what happened to you, what I, despite knowing in my heart that something was wrong, turned a blind eye to because of my own fears. I had told Severus, though I don't know if he realizes I remember him that I wished to see you again, to apologize properly, but I was thinking that perhaps this is as good a place as any to start in case you did not wish to see me.**_

_**First I wanted to say how much your mother and father really loved you Harry. You were the biggest source of pride and joy for them and I could see that every time Lily would sneak me away to come and visit you and she did a number of times, you were such a bright and active baby and even as your aunt I was so proud of you and proud of what I knew you would become. It's true that I was scared of magic when Lily first started showing signs and I even said a great deal of hurtful things to her but as we got older and she showed me more of your world I could see the beauty that was there.**_

_**It hurt to lose my sister and I know that doesn't explain my behavior towards you in the beginning but every time I looked in your eyes I would see Lily staring back at me and it hurt more than I can find words to express but when you got older and Vernon and Dudley… well I knew I couldn't allow my own pain to rule my actions anymore. You were and are the last real family that I have in this world Harry and I know I deserve nothing from you, I hope that someday we might be able to try and be the family that Lily would have wanted us to be and that you will be able to forgive a foolish muggle woman for the mistakes of her husband and son.**_

_**I hope that this letter finds you well and that you are allowing those that care for you to help you through this. I don't think I have ever seen Severus more terrifying than that night, despite that, I know he is a good man Harry and hopefully he will be able to provide you what I could not, safety and security. I also remember your parents other friends, the tricky ones Sirius and Remus, your godfathers if I recall right, no doubt they will be there for you as well along with the friends from school that you told me so much about. **_

_**If you take nothing else from this letter please take this. Do not lock yourself away Harry. Don't let what happened rule your life and turn you into a bitter person, you have so much ahead of you, so much love to give and I hope that your life is full of nothing but joy and love.**_

_**In Loving Hope,**_

_**Petunia Evans." **_Remus finished reading the letter and folded it back up before returning it to its envelope and handing it to Harry who clenched it in a white knuckled grip while tears steadily streamed down his face.

"Harry, what did she mean, what did those muggles do to you?" Sirius asked, his voice coming out sounding rather strained and a mixture of fear and anger.

"I… I can't… I…" Harry almost longed to tell them now, to get it out in the open, he had no doubts that the two men had some idea of what happened but he couldn't bring himself to say the words. "Severus, please…" He said lowering his head.

Severus walked the rest of the way into the room, having been just outside as Remus had started to read the letter and it had floored him so much that he had found himself unable to move further into the room until he heard Harry call his name.

"Are you sure?" He asked moving closer to the younger man. Harry said nothing though and only nodded his head. "In the beginning they beat him, broke bones, starved him, and treated him worse than a common house elf." Severus explained watching as Remus and Sirius' faces twisted into expressions of anger and rage. "That was only the beginning. It became worse when he got older." He said finding himself now having a hard time saying the words that needed to be said.

"What did they do Snape?" Sirius barked out in anger which caused Harry to flinch slightly even though he knew it wasn't directed at him. Remus noticed this and leaned forward, placing a comforting hand on the young man's.

"They raped him Black." Was all Severus could say. There was no silver lining, no way to sugar coat what had happened to Harry but that didn't make him feel any better about it.

"WHAT?" Sirius screamed out before jumping to his feet and beginning to pace back and forth while swearing up a storm. "I'll kill them, I'll fucking kill them! They will wish they never thought of touching him! They'll have to send Dementors to stop me!" Sirius raged out. Remus was equally as angry but was hiding it behind now bright golden eyes that were flashing dangerously.

"Sirius please! Stop!" Harry choked out, his voice cracking with emotion and distress all at the same time. Sirius though was so blinded by his anger that the young man's pleas went unheard and the sight of Harry in that much emotional pain was enough to make Severus snap at the man.

"I ALREADY KILLED THEM!" He snarled out suddenly. The exclamation causing Sirius to stop dead in his tracks and gape at the man while Remus and Harry both wore matching shocked expressions. Harry had known he had done something to them, but he killed them? He killed them for him? Another sound caught the attention of everyone except Harry in the room and they turned to find Lucius standing in the door with a rather serious expression on his face while he held up a very disturbed looking Draco.

"You… you killed them?" Harry whispered out finally causing everyone's attention to snap back to him. He still couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the information. "Why would… why?" He gasped out while trying his best to calm himself.

"I didn't pull the trigger I assure you; I merely provided them with the means to end it themselves." Severus said with a sneer and glare so dark and full of hate for those muggles that Remus couldn't mistake the level of caring the man had for Harry.

"Never again, don't you ever do anything like that again." Harry finally said after a long moment of silence though his voice was still shaky.

"When it comes to your protection I make no promises or guarantees." Severus said simply in all seriousness for once not caring about who was in the room with them. It wasn't what Harry wanted to hear but surprisingly he found the thought comforting on some level.

"I'm going to guess you two heard everything?" Harry suddenly asked addressing the two new comers to the conversation while mentally berating himself up for not picking up on their energy sooner.

"Why didn't you tell us Harry?" Draco cried out before running across the room and throwing his arms around his friend all but shoving his godfather out of the way in his effort to get there.

"I didn't want anyone to know Dray and even if I had wanted to, how do you tell the people you care about something like that?" Harry asked with a sniffle escaping him still not able to bring himself to say the words aloud.

"You know this wouldn't change how we see you, you're still just Harry, our best mate and we're there for you no matter what. Haven't Ron and Hermione been telling you that for years?" Draco said wiping tears off his friend's face and ignoring his own.

"I know Dray, I'm sorry; I just didn't know what to do." Harry mumbled out before gripping his friend tightly and finally allowing himself to cry. The other four men in the room simply watched the scene, none of them knowing what to say but realizing that this had been what Harry had needed.

Severus was startled from his musings when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and he finally tore his eyes away from Harry to find Sirius looking at him with a strange expression, one that he'd never seen on the man's face before, or at least it was one that hadn't been directed at him and it was look of pure gratitude. He was then thrown for more of a loop when Sirius extended his hand towards him. Severus took it slowly and the two shook.

"Thank you S-Severus, thank you for looking out for him." Sirius said before glancing to Harry again.

"I will always do whatever I can to protect him." Severus said simply for once his voice lacking all the usual bite it held when speaking with Sirius.

Both men knew that it didn't erase the past between them but they couldn't help but realize that they were united not only in their fight against Voldemort but also the need to protect Harry as best they were able. Remus watched the exchange with a fond look towards both men and couldn't help but marvel at his cub's ability to unite the most unlikely of people, he was just upset that it took something of this magnitude to do it. He couldn't stop himself from wondering if perhaps had it happened sooner they could have prevented what had happened to Harry but as quickly as the thoughts came he pushed them away as he knew dwelling on 'what ifs' would only cause more upset and anger.

It was a long while before Harry's cries finally ended and even longer after that before he finally let go of Draco and surprisingly it was Lucius who spoke up after silence flooded the room once again.

"I know I am probably not your favorite person, I can't expect you to be able to forget all our negative exchanges in the past, ruse or not, but I've been where you are Harry and I am more than willing to lend an ear if you should need it." He said before placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder for a moment before picking up Draco who had fallen asleep only moments before. The statement caused Severus to look at his friend in shock. He knew of the things that Lucius had gone through in his younger years but the man had never really talked about them much.

"Thank you Mr… Lucius thanks." Harry said with a nod before he allowed Sirius and Remus to shuffle him off to his own room, it being obvious to the two that Harry was now struggling to stay awake.

No sooner had the two men gotten him into bed did Severus appear in the room with a small potion vial in hand. He didn't say a word though as he handed it to Harry and the young man downed it without batting an eyelash. Noting the curious looks from Sirius and Remus, Severus sighed slightly.

"Dreamless Sleep." He said simply. "He needs rest and nightmares tend to have the opposite effect." He muttered out before turning and heading back out of the room without another word and Sirius and Remus did not miss the look of longing that flashed across Harry's face as he listened to Severus' retreating footsteps.

"You were very brave today Harry." Remus said brushing the teen's hair back from his forehead. Harry blinked sleepily and snuggled down into the blankets enjoying the comfort of having his godfathers there with him but he couldn't help but feel he would have much preferred it be Severus laying there with him.

"I just didn't…" Harry mumbled out as the potion slowly started to take effect. "I didn't want you to hate me." He finally managed to get out after a long moment.

"We could never Harry, you did nothing wrong and you've got nothing to be ashamed or sorry for." Sirius said for once sounding like the adult that he really was. "Now get some sleep." He added before ruffling Harry's hair playfully. The young man merely smiled for a moment before dropping off into a deep sleep.

Remus watched as Sirius laid there with a dark expression on his face and he reached over to give his mate's hand an assuring squeeze. Sirius finally met his gaze and sighed before nodding slightly and allowing his own eyes to drift close. The werewolf continued to watch over the two most important people to him before he quietly climbed out of bed and went in search of Severus, something more was going on and he was determined to find out what it was.

Following his instincts he headed to the study that they had passed on their way to find Harry and Severus earlier that day and sure enough he found the man sitting there staring into the fire obviously deep in thought.

"I know Sirius already said it but I think it bares repeating, thank you." He said gently from his place by the doorway. Severus turned his head to look at the man for a moment before motioning towards the chair across from his own.

"And as I said before I will always do what I can to protect him." The dark haired man said simply still not meeting Remus' curious gaze.

"I do hope you made them suffer terribly." Remus said with such a sweet and light tone it almost made Severus shudder before a cruel smirk crept onto his face as he nodded his head.

"Indeed, they paid for their sins a most horrid manner." He said causing the werewolf to chuckle which was slightly surprising to Severus though he supposed that the maniacal streak he had heard werewolves get when they think their pack or mate is threatened was proving to be true.

"Tell me Severus; is there something going on between my cub and yourself?" He asked leaning back in his seat and pinning the other man with a look that clearly dared him to lie.

"And if there is?" Severus questioned, neither confirming nor denying what Remus had asked him.

"I would merely warn you that if you ever break his heart that I'd eat yours." He said with a grin that had it not been attached to a threat might have been seen as friendly instead Severus found it a bit on the terrifying side.

"Then I shall consider myself warned." The potions master answered with a curt nod of his head allowing the werewolf the truth. "You know Black will not be pleased." He added. Remus merely gave a shrug of his shoulders which caused Severus to raise a brow at him.

"Sirius isn't the one that needs to be happy with it. If it is what Harry wants as you do honestly seem to make him happy then Sirius will need to learn to deal with it, as it was very clear earlier that Harry would have every intention of fighting to keep you." The werewolf explained. "I almost pity Voldemort if he's actually crazy enough to hurt you now." He stated with a small chuckle.

The two continued to discuss Harry and Severus actually found himself not bothered by the company but he supposed that was because he had never really had much of a problem with Remus when he wasn't gray, fluffy and trying to eat his face. Finally Remus stood and Severus did as well wanting to get at least another batch of Pepper-Up potion done before heading to bed himself.

"Thank you L… Remus, I can only hope that you won't have too much trouble with Black when he does finally manage to put two and two together." Severus said dryly he then raised a brow at the other man. "What gave us away?" He finally asked. At the question Remus merely chuckled at him and tapped his own nose.

"Surely you haven't forgotten I'm a werewolf Severus, you remind me more than anyone else I know." The man said with a faint laugh before heading back to Harry's room.

Severus merely watched him go for a moment before heading to his own rooms to complete the potions he'd intended before bed.

Waking up slowly Harry couldn't help but sigh when he realized that he was still squished in between his godfathers and couldn't move an inch in either direction. He grumbled to himself muttering about lazy dogs as he tried his best to work his way out from between the men. A low chuckle caught his attention and he realized that at least one of his godparents was awake.

"Lazy dog? I'm starting to think you're spending a bit too much time with Snape." Sirius said with another laugh before stretching for a moment and then sitting up to allow a now laughing Harry to get up as well. Sirius watched his godson as he scooted towards the end of the bed and sighed. "You really seem to like Snape now don't you?" He asked in a quiet voice doing his best to make sure he didn't wake Remus. Harry turned his head in the direction of his godfather's voice and merely nodded his head sharply.

"How did you…?" Harry trailed off slightly while tilting his head a bit.

"I may act like an idiot most of the time but I'm not as dumb as I seem and then there was the little fact of you threatening me." The older man said with a small chuckle. Harry sat there slightly gob smacked for a moment marveling at how well Sirius seemed to be handling things.

"I don't mean to seem like an arse but this is not the Sirius I know." Harry said sounding mystified at the man's behavior. Sirius understood what Harry was saying and why so he couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed of his behavior and how he had allowed Harry to see him behave.

"Harry… I will probably never like Snape, but I have to admit that I respect the man and not just for the spying, for what he's done for you, what he's doing for you but don't tell him I said that." Sirius said with a firm tone. "And I love you Harry, you're a part of my family and if Snape is the one that you need than that's the way it is." He continued on. "I'm sure we'll still snap at each other and I can't make any promises that I won't put my foot in my mouth on occasion but you being happy means more than anything else to me even my own 'childish' grudges." He finally finished. Despite the part of him that was foaming at the mouth over all of this and demanding that he punch the greasy git in the face Sirius knew that after everything that Harry had been through, everything he couldn't protect him from, he owed it to his godson to try and at least be as accepting as he could be about the situation no matter how much he didn't like it.

Harry didn't know what to say as the other man finished speaking so he did the only thing he could think to do and that was slide his hand across the bed to locate Sirius before flinging his arms around the man. He had honestly been expecting Sirius to hit the roof, he'd been expecting fights of epic proportions and he had even feared accidently hurting Sirius if the man had raised a big enough fuss over things and here the opposite was happening.

"Thank you so much Siri!" Harry said happily before he felt the other man tense up in his hold. "Sirius? What's wrong?" He worried that maybe Sirius was changing his mind about the whole thing.

"I'm really glad your happy Harry but could you explain why there's a ruddy great snake staring at me from the end of the bed?" Sirius whispered out. At the question Harry couldn't help but giggle for a moment.

"That's Severus' pet Alexandria; she's probably here to lead me to breakfast." The teen explained. **"Breakfassst?" **He hissed to the snake in question.

"**Yesss young sssnake, your little friennnd is mossst anxiousss to sssee you." **The snake responded.

"Can we talk more then Sirius? I know you seem okay now but I get the feeling you have some questions." Harry said slowly pulling away from Sirius. The other man rubbed at the back of his neck and nodded before he remembered Harry's condition.

"You're probably right." He said simply. "We'll talk more later on this evening." He said before Harry hugged him again. As soon as Harry was gone Sirius flopped back on the bed with a sigh and shutting his eyes he began to rub his temples until a hand touching his arm made him jump slightly. Turning his head he was met with the smiling face of Remus.

"I'm so proud of you." He said giving his mate a brilliant smile. "I know this won't be easy for you love but Severus isn't as bad as you think he is and he really seems to care for Harry." Remus said running the tips of his finger lightly across Sirius' forehead. "You could always try talking to him." He said chuckling as Sirius' face wrinkled up in annoyance at the suggestion. "I mean it Sirius." Remus said swatting his lover on the arm playfully.

"I was sort of already thinking about doing that." He said which surprised Remus a great deal. Well it wasn't the fact that Sirius had been thinking about talking to Severus, it was the fact that he actually seemed like he wanted to. Remus knew he shouldn't have really been all that surprised though considering that Harry was involved. "I guess the sooner I get it done the less it will feel like I'm ripping out my own teeth." Sirius said with a sigh.

"He's most likely in the study down the hall." The werewolf said simply which caused Sirius to giving him curious look. "I may or may not have had a conversation with him last night." He added with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Now shoo so I can get a bit more sleep." He finished before shoving Sirius off the side of the bed and rolling over.

Sitting up on the floor Sirius glared at the back of Remus' head for a moment before pushing himself up and heading out of the room. He headed down the hall with a stern look on his face, he might be willing to accept this for Harry's sake but that didn't mean that Severus wasn't going to get 'the talk' from him. True to Remus' word he found the man in his study.

"We need to talk Snape." Sirius said as he entered the room causing Severus to look up from the book he had been reading.

"Really? Are you sure your brain cells are up to the challenge this early in the morning?" Severus sneered. Sirius scowled at him and bit his tongue thinking about Harry in an effort to calm himself.

"I'm doing this for Harry, so don't make me regret it." He growled out at the man. Severus relaxed a little but the scowl didn't leave his face.

"What about him Black?" He snipped out trying and failing to keep the hint of concern from his voice as he couldn't help but wonder if maybe something was wrong with the young man.

"He's fine." Sirius said and as he did Severus relaxed a bit more. "It's just that he seems very attached to you now, why I'll never know, but I want him safe and happy and if you make him feel that then there isn't much I can do is there?" He asked almost shocking Severus speechless at how much he seemed to have thought things through.

"The wolf put you up this didn't he?" He asked still trying to get over his shock.

"Remmy suggested it but I'd been planning on it anyway after what happened yesterday." He said with a shrug marveling at how easy it was to talk to Severus when they weren't fighting about the past.

"What are you hoping to get out of this conversation Black?" He asked obviously already tired of dancing around whatever it was that Sirius wasn't asking.

"I just want to know why Sn-Severus." Sirius said simply feeling that using the man's given name would help him realize how serious (no pun intended) he was about the conversation they were having. "I know you've given Harry a hard time for years and now this… whatever it is between you two." He floundered, his thoughts quickly starting to run amok in his head.

"I don't know." Severus admitted between clenched teeth not wanting to admit that he wasn't sure of something, the statement surprising the other man.

"How can you not know?" Sirius said gaping while Severus merely rolled his eyes at him.

"Can you honestly tell me you remember exactly when it was your feelings for Lupin changed?" Severus snapped at him. At this Sirius had the good grace to look sheepish and Severus sneered again. "Exactly my point. Why are you so concerned?" Severus asked planning on hexing the man if he gave him some idiotic reasoning about him or his past.

"He's my friend and my family and it's my job to keep him safe, not that I could." The other man murmured out. Severus finally took note of the darkness in Sirius' gaze.

"Bl…Sirius," He said with a grimace at the name left his mouth. "Do not attempt to sit there and take all the blame for what has happened." Severus hissed out. "We are all guilty for it. Albus for not keeping a better watch on things and me for not recognizing the signs that were so obviously there." He huffed out not believing that he was sitting in his study having this conversation with Sirius. He never thought he would live to see the day and was sure that it had to be a sign of some coming apocalypse. While Sirius was surprised at the admission he was more shocked about the man using his first name. As his surprise wore off he looked at Severus with a curious expression.

"You really care don't you?" He asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Of course you blithering idiot!" The other man snapped out with a heavy sigh.

"You're not just using him?" Sirius asked before he could stop himself and quickly realized that he had just had a foot in mouth moment.

"How dare you!" Severus bellowed out seeing red at the question. "Do you think me that much of a monster?" He yelled out causing Sirius to flinch at the question but surprisingly he held his ground.

"How am I supposed to know? We haven't exactly gotten along all these years and I have to protect Harry! How do I know I can trust you with that?" He asked doing his best to keep the stern look on his face even though the anger radiating from Severus made him want to run and hide like a frightened 1st year.

"Because I love him you idiot!" Severus yelled out surprising both men. Sirius because he didn't think Severus could love anything that wasn't dead and stuffed in a jar and Severus because he hadn't realized what he'd been feeling for Harry was love until the words left his mouth.

"Oh." Was all Sirius managed to get out as he continued to sit there looking stunned which caused Severus to glare at him.

"Oh indeed."

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End Chapter 12


	13. Merry Christmas From the Death Eaters

All right and now for your reading pleasure I bring you chapter 13! As always disclaimers and such can be found in Chapter 1 and do try not to leave reviews about my grammar and such my dear sweet peas, I know it is not the best but I never claimed to be a professional writer. Enjoy!

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Darkness – Chapter 13 – Merry Christmas From the Death Eaters

Had either of the men in the study been paying closer attention they would have heard the soft gasp from outside in the hallway. Harry was currently plastered against the wall with a look of shock on his face mixed with one of joy. Alexandria who was coiled next to him had taken notice of a change in his body chemistry and cocked her head to the side and stared at the young man wondering how the other two men hadn't been able to smell him from where they were.

"_**Come young sssnake before you are dissscovered." **_She hissed out quickly to a stunned Harry, who was still trying to wrap his mind around what he had just heard and merely nodded, halfheartedly listened to her directions to get to the kitchen.

Needless to say the rest of the day went by in a rather hectic blur for Harry as his godfathers rushed him off to do his Christmas shopping and thanks to the conversations that had happened that morning and the day before everything was far more relaxed and comfortable between the three and back at the manor Sirius and Remus seemed to be getting along better with Severus not that the dark wizard of the group would ever admit that to anyone.

Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Draco, appeared in Diagon Alley a little after noon, having stopped in the Leaky Cauldron for lunch before getting on with their shopping. The group went from store to store and despite not being able to see anything that he was buying he'd managed to do all right so far. For Ron he'd gotten a book on the complete history of the Chudley Cannons, signed by the entire current team. Considering that they were still one of the worst teams in the league Harry wasn't honestly all that surprised that Flourish and Blotts still had it when the book had been signed a month ago. He'd already had Hermione's present which he had gathered for her last year from the Chamber of Secrets and it was one of Salazar Slytherin's personal diaries telling all about when the founders were younger, when they first founded the school. He'd also gotten Severus' present from there as well, not that he ever thought he would be giving it to the man, Slytherin's personal potions journal. He knew he wanted to get something else for the man but he knew that with his personal condition it would be rather hard.

He'd gotten a few muggle items for Arthur, the latest books on curse breaking for Bill, a gift certificate to Twilfitt and Tattings for Fleur, an amulet that made one immune to most types of poisons from dragons for Charlie, a new broom for Ginny and the latest book on potions that can be used in pranks for Fred and George. He hadn't really been all that sure what to get Draco and Lucius so he had gotten Draco some sort of posh quill and ink set he knew the blond had been eyeing up, Remus distracting him while Harry paid for the set at Scribbulus, and got Lucius a meeting with the most sought after goblin in Gringotts to discuss his financials, Draco assured him that he would love it.

After getting much of the main shopping done Harry had begged Sirius and Remus to allow him and Draco to go off on their own for a bit that that he could do his shopping for the two of them without them knowing what he was getting them and after much arguing the two older wizards finally gave in allowing them time but telling them to meet up with them in an hour or else Remus said he would tear Diagon Alley apart looking for the two of them.

"So what did you have in mind for the two of them?" Draco asked Harry as they rounded a corner and finally making it out of ear shot of the two men.

"I know they have wedding bands but Hermione told me she had heard Sirius telling Remus that once those idiots at the Ministry finally got his accounts unfrozen he would be getting them new ones, ones that clearly told the wizarding world that despite being a werewolf Remus deserves all the respect that one should give the husband of a Lord." Harry said with a smile thinking about how much his godparents really loved each other.

"I know just the place, come on." Draco said quickly before dragging Harry down one of the side streets.

"Where in Merlin's name are we going?" Harry yelled out before they suddenly came to a stop.

"Merlin's Heart. It's a jewelry store that opened up here a year or two ago, they have a lot of great stuff here." Draco explained before pushing Harry in through the front door.

"Dear me Mister Malfoy who have you drug into my store today?" Harry heard the kindly voice of an older woman. "By Merlin, if it isn't Harry Potter." She said, though to Harry's surprise and joy she didn't sound all that shocked. "What can I do for you Mister Potter?" The woman asked turning her attention to him.

And so Harry spent the next few minutes explaining to the woman what he was wanting to do for his godparents and the woman tossed out a few ideas from what he was telling her until everything was done.

"So let's see you want to go with the yellow gold, with the protection charms, with the Black family crest inlayed with rubies and moonstone correct?" She asked as she wrote down the final order. Harry merely nodded as the woman went about getting receipt together for him.

It was while he was waiting that Harry felt a sudden pull from his left. Turning in the direction he moved until he noticed something, he could actually **see** what was pulling him. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking at but it looked to be a snake curled up on a velvet pillow.

"_**Hello." **_He hissed out feeling rather silly at talking to what was no doubt a piece of jewelry. To his surprise though the snake raised its head and looked at him.

"_**I've been waiting a long time for you ssspeaker." **_The snake responded and it was then that Harry heard the sound of something being dropped.

"By Merlin, you're a Rage!" The woman that had been waiting on his gasped out. Harry spun away from the snake at this and realized that his sight hadn't really come back even though he could see the snake.

"How can you tell Madame Roxin?" Draco asked suddenly very worried and wondering is he should be calling for Sirius and Remus right then.

"Long ago that necklace belonged to a man who was the mate of a Rage. The wizard had made it so that he would not be effected by his mates powers, it's full of various protection spells and can even protect those the Rage considers family if their mate is in the area." She explained.

"This Rage's mate was a Parselmouth?" Harry asked blinking in confusion. The woman merely stating that he wasn't sure as no one seemed to know who it was that had originally made the necklace._** "Do you remember who it wasss that created you?" **_Harry hissed looking back at the necklace, the snake merely bobbing his head.

"_**I believe you humansss call him Sssalazar." **_He said with a hissing laugh at the look of shock on Harry's face._** "Hisss mate wasss one called Godric." **_At this bit of information Harry couldn't help the strange smile that spread across his face.

"Madame I'd like the necklace as well please." He said quickly.

"There is no need Mister Potter, when we received it there was a note included in very old script that the first the necklace reacted to would be the owner, it is yours." She said with a hint of a smile in her voice. "And do not worry your secret if safe here, I consider all my clients information private." She added.

With that Harry picked up the necklace and allowed it to coil itself around his neck before the two of them quickly left the shop after paying for Harry's purchase, the woman informing him that he would receive the rings by the next day via owl. It was on their way back to meet with Sirius and Remus that Harry had told Draco was the snake necklace had told him shocking the blond speechless for a long while.

"Does that mean Riddle is one as well?" Draco finally asked after they had met back up with Sirius and Remus telling the other two men as well about their latest discovery. "I mean he is Slytherin's heir and all." He went on to add.

"I don't think so, I mean I think if he had any of this power he would have used it long before now, maybe since he sort of died and came back? Or it could just be that it runs in the Gryffindor side." Harry said sounding rather confused before an idea came to him. _**"Hasss anyone elssse tried to claim you?" **_He hissed at the necklace. The small snake head bobbed up and down and though Harry could see it he did not tell the others, not wanting to get them excited over nothing, as he could still not see anything else.

"_**Yesss, ugly sssnake faced human. He sssmelled like a youngling I had met many yearsss ago. But he isss not of your kind, I bit him." **_The snake said sounding oddly please with itself and causing Harry to laugh before he told the others what the snake had said which caused them to laugh as well.

"We had better get back before Severus sends a search party after the lot of us. I don't know who worries more him or Lucius." Remus said with a small laugh before the group headed back to the manor.

When they returned the other took Lucius to another room while Harry went with Severus to the study so that he could explain what they had learned. As they settled on the couch Harry suddenly started hissing and Severus watched with a shocked expression as what appeared to be a silver snake with emerald eyes slithered down from around the teen's neck and over to him before wrapping itself around his wrist and becoming a bit smaller so that it did not dangle there. He was about to open his mouth to ask what was going on when he was suddenly pulled into a fierce kiss by the younger man. For a moment he wondered if the teen was trying to suck out tonsils he didn't have but rather than protest he merely allowed himself to enjoy the sensation.

"May I ask what all this is in regards to?" Severus asked with a raised brow as he noticed that Harry's cheeks were now brilliant shade of red.

"The snake just confirmed something I was hoping all ready." Harry muttered out as the blush darkened a bit before he went on to explain about all that had happened during the day. By the end of the tale Severus was sitting there with his mouth open before chuckling darkly at the thought of the jeweled snake biting Voldemort.

"Mates?" Severus mused out while running a hand through Harry's hair as the teen's head now rested on his leg. He noticed that Harry had an unsure look on his face and did his best to put him at ease. "I suppose I can live with that." He finally said and was rewarded with a brilliant smile.

Severus took note of a bold change in Harry over the next few days after their discovery, the younger man seeming far more comfortable around him then he had previously, as well as him being bolder with his actions towards Severus when in the presence of everyone else. It was almost as if he no longer cared what anyone thought about the relationship; though he assumed that finding out the bit about possibly being mates had had something to do with that.

The training sessions were still long and tedious but Harry was no longer tiring as easily as he had and with the addition of Sirius and Remus in the manor it gave him more people to identify and locate, though he seemed to be doing that much easier as well since the little jeweled snake had come along. Also having been led through the first floor of the manor so many times by Alexandria, another in the manor who was quite taken by Severus' new jewelry, the teen was now able to make it back and forth from the dining room, kitchen, study, and library to his room on his own, but Alexandria would always slither along next to him in case she was needed.

Severus merely continued to marvel at how easily his familiar had become attached to the young man, though considering how attached he had become himself, even without the information the bracelet had provided, he didn't think he could really blame her for it, he sometimes just wished he was able to understand what the two of them were talking about from time to time so he would know whether to be offended or not when Harry would occasionally laugh.

When Christmas morning finally broke Severus found his manor being invaded by Weasleys, Granger, Krum, and much to his own dismay a promise from Albus and Minerva to be paying a visit at some point during the day as well. He'd already been invaded once in his own opinion and was now being hit by a second wave, though he supposed out of respect for Harry he really shouldn't look at the man's adoptive family as some sort of attack squad out for his blood.

Severus had tried to keep to himself when everyone had settled in the study after arriving but he quickly found himself being seated on the couch and his lap filled with a very happy Harry Potter. From behind the young man he glared at Remus while Sirius did his best to keep himself from laughing at the shocked expression on the faces of the Weasleys and failing miserably at it.

"What's this all about Harry?" Fred and George both asked at the same time tilting their heads in sync with one another causing Draco and Lucius to snicker loudly at the two red heads.

"Remus thinks that Severus and I shouldn't be making an attempt to hide the fact that we've started a relationship." Harry said with a snicker of his own and a roll of his blank eyes. As Severus merely looked at the twins for a moment a thought came to him.

"Harry I think with the assistance of Misters Weasley there is something I would like to try before I let you waste the day away." He said with a dry laugh at the indignant look that crossed Harry's face even though it held a touch of amusement.

"We'll help for now, but you can be expecting a talk later." Fred said quickly with George nodding his head in agreement. At this Harry raised a brow.

"Indeed." He said simply as he had been expecting similar talks from the Weasleys as he had gotten from both Remus and Sirius. "Now, no one can tell them apart Harry, everything about them is identical, can you?" He asked simply and as soon as he did a look of intense concentration made it's way onto Harry's face as everyone in the room suddenly felt it power reaching out and as it did Severus could feel the bracelet on his wrist pulse as the amount of power in the room increased.

"Fred is on the left and George is on the right." He said after a minute or two. A look of surprise from the twins confirmed to Severus that Harry was correct and he smirked slightly feeling a rather overwhelming sense of pride towards the teen.

"Congratulations Harry." He said softly into the teen's ear. Harry broke out into a brilliant smile at this and the room quickly filled with the sound of others congratulating him as well, including the other Weasley men telling Severus they would be talking to him later as well. It was then that he finally noticed that some people were missing. He cocked his head to the side and raised a brow.

"I can't believe that I just not noticed that Ginny and Mum Weasley aren't here! Where in Merlin's name are they?" Harry finally asked the group. At this Arthur laughed a little. He could tell that Harry was a little relieved and confused about the fact that his youngest was not there and he could not really blame him since for the longest time Ginny had an infatuation with him that bordered on obsession after the Chamber of Secrets incident.

"She is still at the Burrow dear, she's waiting for Dean to get there, and then Molly will be bringing the two of them along." Arthur explained. As he did Harry merely nodded before turning his attention back to the other conversations that were going on around him now that he knew what was going on.

The group continued chatting for sometime, occasionally moving around the room so that Harry could practice telling who was where, though they didn't do this to much as Severus had promised Harry that he would be able to 'waste' the day. They had decided that they would wait until after dinner to open their gifts so that hopefully everyone was able to make it there by then. It was only a little after two when the frantic call came through.

"Arthur!" Molly screamed from the fireplace. Everyone in the room looked at the woman with wide eyes. From what they could see her hair was in disarray and she had some blood running down her forehead.

"Molly! What's happened?" Arthur yelled out running to the fireplace, already pulling out his wand.

"Death Eaters!" She managed to get out no more before she disappeared from the fireplace once again.

No one in the room said a word; they all just left as quickly as they had arrived some charging through the floo and others apparating from the house, luckily Severus had thought it best to drop the wards as soon as Molly's head had appeared in the fireplace.

"Harry I need you to stay here with Lucius and Draco…" Severus started to say but the look on the teen's face told him that he was already wasting time and energy by saying what he was about to say. "You need to be kept safe…" He tried again and almost jumped at the angry wave of energy that escaped from Harry causing the bracelet to pulse rapidly. "Fine, but stay close to me." Severus finally hissed out before standing and pulling Harry up against him tightly.

It was chaos at the Burrow when they landed, true the house had still be in the process of being rebuilt but it was destroyed once again. Curses and hexes were flying and the air was thick with magic even before Harry's started to pulse. Severus looked around quickly and saw Molly off to the side being tended by one of the twins and sighed in relief for a moment before a shield quickly went up in front of them blocking a stray curse that had flown their way.

"I thought you were the one paying attention." Harry said with a cheeky look on his face which merely caused Severus to scowl but it quickly faded as he noticed the dark look that suddenly over took Harry's expression. It was so lost and angry that it made Severus shudder for a moment.

"I can't feel Ginny anywhere, why can't I feel Ginny?" Harry muttered out, his eyes closed as he was obviously sending out his magic as wave after wave rolled off of him in his attempt to find his friend.

Severus' eyes scanned the yard, occasionally flinging out a curse or two as a stray Death Eaters would send one in their direction on occasion. He for the most part was shielding Harry within his robes otherwise he knew they would be the primary targets but it seemed that for a change they had the Death Eaters outnumbered as the others were clearly keeping them rather busy. The longer the two of them searched the more Harry's magic spiked and it was pushing people back and away from the two of them but surprisingly those on their side seemed to be unaffected by it for a change and Severus for the first time found himself grateful for the bracelet that he could feel pulsing right along with Harry's magic. It was when Severus finally caught sight of the all too familiar shock of red hair sticking out from a pile of rubble that the man felt his heart in his throat. It seemed that Harry was able to pick up on the wave of sadness from him and looked at him with a worried expression on his face.

"Severus, do you see her?" He asked with a pleading tone, his magic slowly starting to slip from his control and lash out in every direction it was able to go.

"Harry please… we should return…" Severus said making a plea of his own to the young man but Harry shook his head.

"Take me to her." He whispered out, his voice cracking a bit as he spoke and the feeling of sadness and anger from him could almost be tasted in the air, everything crackling with his explosive energy.

As they approached Severus quickly spelled the rocks away from the body that had once been the spunky Ginerva Weasley and Harry dropped to his knees reaching out blindly before locating her body and clutching at his fallen friend. Knowing there was nothing he could really do for the young man Severus merely lowered himself behind Harry and silently held him as he began to scream out his pain, sending out pulse after pulse of raw power.

Severus watched with wide eyes as dark clouds started to form in the sky and the ground began to shake beneath them. He did not know what exactly was happening but he'd no doubt in his mind that whatever it was, was Harry's doing, whether the teen realized it or not. He merely held Harry tighter in hopes that no one else the he cared for would get hurt in the senseless violence that was still going on around them. As if sensing his thoughts yet again Harry suddenly let out a pain filled cry as a wave of magic unlike anything Severus had seen him give off went rushing from his body, knocking away some of the lower Death Eaters while making the older ones double over in agony on the ground.

"I'll kill them all." Harry hissed out, his voice deadly and menacing. Severus almost jumped away from the teen until he heard a slightly more pleading tone escape from him. "Why… why couldn't you have just waited at the manor for him… why are you always so stubborn." Harry whispered out while rocking the dead girl in his arms.

Severus just listened quietly as nature seemed to mourn the passing of Ginny with Harry, as rain started to pour down on all of them, and barely took notice to goings on around him until he was broken from his silent contemplation when shocked wail escaped from Molly Weasley when she finally made her way over to where they were with Ginny's body. There was much crying and sadness but Severus finally managed to get Harry to release Ginny's body so that the others could let their own grief wash over them as well, all the while silently cursing his former master for once again giving Harry more ammunition to hate himself, despite the fact that it wasn't his fault.

After a long while and a visit from the Aurors, to collect the Death Eaters that had been captured, Severus finally managed to convince Harry to return to the manor and that found the two of them curled up on the couch with Harry burying his face into Severus' chest and crying more angry tears for what seemed like hours until Severus was sure the teen had nothing else to cry. He had worried from time to time about the safety of his house as Harry's magic continued to whip around the room but surprisingly everything managed to stay intact and Severus again chalked it up to the bracelet. It was after a long gap of silence that Harry sniffled again and tightly gripped the front of Severus' robes.

"You can't go back to him now." He said simply. Severus had known this was coming and he knew that one day Voldemort would catch on to the fact that he was being played by him he just didn't quite expect it to be happening so soon. The fact that Voldemort hadn't summoned him, Lucius or Draco to inform them about the attack on the Weasley's was surprising to say the least but also made him wonder about who exactly was playing who.

"True and I don't believe Lucius or Draco will be able to either." Was all he said before resting his chin on top of Harry's head who was contently listening to his heart beat as if trying to reassure himself that Severus was indeed alive and safe.

"It's my fault, but I'm glad you can't go to him anymore." Harry said flatly. "I just wish it didn't mean that…" He trailed as a small cry escaped from him again.

"Harry this attack today is not your fault, no one knew about it, Lucius, Draco, no one, me included. Riddle told no one. He no doubt suspects all of us and has gone back to his plan of attacking pureblood families that he views as 'blood traitors', as you've not been seen anywhere but Hogwarts so he would have no clue as to where to attack to find you." Severus said quickly while using his free hand to rake Harry's hair back with his fingers, as he did so though he frowned a bit before placing his hand on Harry's forehead. "You're burning up." He muttered before standing and carrying Harry to his room.

As soon as he laid him down a small groan escaped from the teen before he suddenly started writhing on the bed in pain. Severus could do nothing but watch in horror as Harry's body twisted in ways that could not possibly be natural. He hadn't even heard anyone else enter the room until he heard someone screaming.

"What the hell is happening?" Sirius screamed out at the sight of his godson screaming in pain. Severus looked at the other man for a moment and Remus couldn't help but notice just how lost he looked.

"I don't know! He was in pain over Miss Weasley, we were talking, and I noticed that he seemed to have a slight fever." Severus explained quickly before seeming to come back to himself and casting a quick pain relieving spell at Harry before rushing from the room. When he returned he quickly started pouring various potions down the teen's throat and sighed with relief when Harry slowly seemed to start settling down.

"Tell me Severus." Harry whispered out, feeling them but ignoring the fact that his godparents were there right that moment.

"Tell you what?" The older man asked clearly confused by the younger man's sudden request for some type of information.

"Tell me how you feel about me." He said before gasping lightly as a small tremor of pain shot through his body.

"I… I can't… I…" He stammered out suddenly feeling as if his tongue were too large for his mouth and wondering for a second if someone had jinxed him.

"You can tell Sirius but not me?" Harry murmured sadly and Severus stared at him realizing that Harry had to have heard the conversation he'd had with his dogfather a few days previous. He could only frown for moment as he realized the cat was out of the bag before sighing slightly.

"I love you, impertinent brat that you are." Severus said with a sigh waiting for the rejection that he was so sure he would receive from the teen.

"I do believe I love you too." Harry said before his blank eyes suddenly slipped closed leaving all three men in the room to stare at him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

End Chapter 13… don't kill me over Ginny, I've blame the fact that I've been reading way to many stories where she is a crazy bitch. Also in the original version of this story someone else died but I decided to go with Ginny time around. Seemed like a better option. Anyway they say Chapter 13 is the worst for people with multi-chap stories and I am inclined to agree, thanks for getting through it with me and hopefully Chapter 14 will be much better. Happy Christmas everyone!


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